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Advances in biotechnology have increased the demand for suitable analytical techniques for the analysis of genetically modified organisms. Study of the substantial equivalence, discrimination between transgenic and non-transgenic cultivars, study of the unintended effects caused by a genetic modification or their response to diverse situations or stress conditions (e.g., environmental, climatic, infections) are some of the concerns that need to be addressed. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is emerging as an alternative to conventional techniques for the study and characterization of genetically modified organisms. This article reviews the most recent applications of CE for the analysis and characterization of transgenic cultivars in the last five years. Different strategies have been described depending on the level analyzed (DNA, proteins or metabolites). Capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) has shown to be particularly useful for the analysis of DNA fragments amplified by PCR. Metabolites and proteins have been mainly separated using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) using UV and MS detection. Electrophoretic chips have also proven their ability in the analysis of transgenic cultivars and a section describing the new applications is also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous precipitation coupled with continuous tangential flow filtration is a cost‐effective alternative for the capture of recombinant antibodies from crude cell culture supernatant. The removal of surge tanks between unit operations, by the adoption of tubular reactors, maintains a continuous harvest and mass flow of product with the advantage of a narrow residence time distribution (RTD). We developed a continuous process implementing two orthogonal precipitation methods, CaCl2 precipitation for removal of host‐cell DNA and polyethylene glycol (PEG) for capturing the recombinant antibody, with no influence on the glycosylation profile. Our lab‐scale prototype consisting of two tubular reactors and two stages of tangential flow microfiltration was continuously operated for up to 8 days in a truly continuous fashion and without any product flow interruption, both as a stand‐alone capture and as an integrated perfusion‐capture. Furthermore, we explored the use of a negatively charged membrane adsorber for flow‐through anion exchange as first polishing step. We obtained a product recovery of approximately 80% and constant product quality, with more than two logarithmic reduction values (LRVs) for both host‐cell proteins and host‐cell DNA by the combination of the precipitation‐based capture and the first polishing step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]