Abstract: Deoxyribozymes (DNAzymes), a class of artificial DNA sequences with catalytic activities, have attracted much attention due to their great potential in biosensing. These functional oligonucleotides can not only serve as specific molecular recognition elements, but also report or transduce signals directly through their catalytic activity. In recent years, DNAzyme-based biosensing technology is developing rapidly in the field of food safety. This article provides an overview of catalytic mechanism and biosensing strategy of DNAzymes, and reviews their progress in rapid detection for food safety, with a focus on the scientific literature in the past three years. Finally, we discuss possible future trends and directions of this biosensing technology in the analysis and detection of food samples.

Key words: deoxyribozymes; biosensing; food safety; detection technology; biosensor