Towards genoelectronics: Electrochemical biosensing of DNA hybridization

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) offers the chemist a very powerful recognition tool. The use of DNA as a selective recognition element in biosensors represents an exciting new area of chemistry. Electrochemical sensing devices offer innovative routes for interfacing the nucleic acid recognition system with the signal-generating element at the molecular level. Such devices are also ideally suited for shrinking DNA diagnostics and meeting future requirements of large scale genetic testing. This article reviews new concepts for electrochemical biosensing of DNA sequences, and for using electrical fields to regulate DNA interactions in connection with the development of genoelectronic chips. Particular attention is given to new label-free gene-sensing systems based on monitoring changes in electronic or interfacial properties accompanying DNA hybridization.