Special-Purpose Modifications and Immobilized Functional Nucleic Acids for Biomolecular Interactions

Immobilized oligonucleotides form the critical sensing element of many nucleic acid detection methodologies. However, pressures on performance and versatility, along with an increasing desire to expand the scope of targets and assay platforms has driven the integration of special modifications to enhance stability, functionality and binding characteristics. Separately, aptamers, protein-binding motifs and catalytic nucleic acids have been retailored for use in immobilized formats to exploit the sensitivity, signalling and throughput capabilities of these novel assay platforms. Developments in the field of nanotechnology have also utilized immobilized DNA, but as a scaffold for supramolecular construction and in the synthesis of molecular bioelectronic components. This review endeavours to examine the expanding capabilities of immobilized nucleic acids as sensing and structural componentry, including the modifications required, and the technical advances made to utilize this molecule to its fullest potential.