Whole chromosome elimination and chromosome terminus elimination both contribute to somatic differentiation in Taiwanese hagfish Paramyxine sheni.

Chromosome elimination is a process in which some chromatins are discarded from the presumptive somatic cells during early embryogenesis. Eliminated chromatins in hagfish generally consist of repetitive sequences, and they are highly heterochromatinized in germ cells. In this study, we characterized four novel eliminated DNA families, EEPs1-4, from the Taiwanese hagfish Paramyxine sheni.