Chemically modified nucleic acid biopolymers used in biosensing

Abstract

Biopolymers are highly designable and are often used in biosensing processes. As a biopolymer, a nucleic acid not only has excellent programmability and biocompatibility, but also has a certain molecular recognition function that can directly realize biological recognition in biosensors. However, the structural variety of natural nucleotides hinders the designability of nucleic acid biopolymers. The introduction of chemical modifications in nucleic acids can enrich the designability of nucleic acid biopolymers, thereby expanding their applications in biosensing. To date, there have been many reviews paying attention to biopolymers used in biosensing, but few reviews have focused on chemically modified nucleic acid biopolymers. Here, we review different kinds of assemblies based on chemically modified nucleic acid biopolymers. We summarize their advances in the field of biosensing. Furthermore, we present challenges and prospects in this field, aiming to provide a promising step for a versatile biosensor platform based on chemically modified nucleic acid biopolymers.