Target-switched artificial biochemical circuit for a versatile and sensitive colorimetric detection platform

The presence of the target causes the structural switch of a metastable hairpin template probe (MH) for triggering a self-primed artificial biochemical circuit to produce numerous DNAzyme replicates, which in turn results in substantial signal amplification for highly sensitive colorimetric determination of nucleic acids. A smartphone-integrated and target-switched artificial biochemical circuit was designed for the establishment of a versatile and sensitive colorimetric detection platform.