Overcoming Major Barriers to Developing Successful Sensors for Practical Applications Using Functional Nucleic Acids

For many years, numerous efforts have been focused on the development of sensitive, selective, and practical sensors for environmental monitoring, food safety, and medical diagnostic applications. However, the transition from innovative research to commercial success is relatively sparse. In this review, we identify several barriers to developing successful sensors for practical applications, including the lack of general methods to ( a) generate receptors for a wide range of targets, ( b) improve sensor selectivity to overcome interferences, ( c) transduce the selective binding to different optical, electrochemical, and other signals, and ( d) tune dynamic range to match thresholds of detection required for different targets. We then summarize solutions to overcome these barriers using sensors based on functional nucleic acids that include DNAzymes, aptamers, and aptazymes and how these sensors are coupled to widely available measurement devices to expand their capabilities and lower the barrier for their practical applications in the field and point-of-care settings. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry Volume 15 is June 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.