Updated toolkits for nucleic acid-based biosensors

Much progress has been made in the biosensor area with the prosperity and development of nucleic acid nanotechnology and molecular biology. Especially, the advances made in dynamic DNA nanotechnology and the increasing sophistication of toehold-mediated strand displacement reactions have put new energy into nucleic acid-based biosensor designs. The exposure of the gene-editing ability of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) associated proteins (Cas) has also greatly revolutionized the way nucleic acid can be operated in biosensing systems, providing versatile strategies for signal handling. Hence, in this review, we will discuss the application of these two technologies as the expanded tools for nucleic acid-based biosensors and focus on their strategies governing signal transduction. Besides, technologies like DNA computing and deep learning approaches which flashed in nucleic acid biosensors very recently are also discussed in the perspective and outlook part. •The regermination of DNA dynamic nanotechnology has put new energy into the NA based biosensor.•The new born of CRISPR/Cas system provided versatile, novel signal handling ideas for NA biosensor design.•Hybridization and strand displacement reaction can be controlled with versatile strategies.