The photocleavage of a nitrobenzyl-type linker (NPPOC) at 405 nm wavelength was enabled by nucleic acid-templated energy transfer from a sensitizer (thioxanthenone) to the linker. This strategy was used to release profluorescent rhodamine, which facilitated monitoring of the reaction via fluorescence measurement in a nonoverlapping window with the sensitizer/photocleavage reaction. The rate acceleration of the templated reaction was greater than 20-fold over the background reaction. The templated reaction was used in conjunction with strand displacement to design four-component systems that responded to an analyte (DNA). Programming a specific hierarchical relationship among the four components enabled the design of a system that responded first positively and then negatively to increasing levels of an analyte.