DNA hybridization chain reaction and DNA supersandwich self-assembly for ultrasensitive detection

The fabrication of sensitive sensors with high selectivity is highly desirable for the detection of some important biomarkers, such as nucleic acids, proteins, small molecules and ions. DNA hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and DNA supersandwich self-assembly (SSA) are two prevalent enzyme-free signal amplification strategies to improve sensitivity of the sensors. In this review, we firstly describe the characteristics about DNA HCR and DNA SSA, and then summarize the advances in the one-dimensional DNA nanostructures assisted by HCR and SSA. This review has been divided into three parts according to the two signal amplification methods and highlights recent progress in these two strategies to improve the detection sensitivity of proteins, nucleic acids, small molecules and ions.