The cell cycle variant in multiciliated cells incorporates 2 centriole biogenesis cycles
Abstract
Multiciliated cell (MCC) differentiation is a calibrated version of the canonical cell cycle. The MCC cell cycle variant sustains amplification of centrioles for the nucleation of dozens of motile cilia, while avoiding cell division. In this study, we show that the MCC cell cycle variant is an accelerated version of the canonical cell cycle, which superposes two cycles of centriole biogenesis, in order to obtain multiple mature centrioles within a single -instead of double- cell cycle iteration. We further show that the precocious maturation of amplified procentrioles is even determinant for their spatial self-organization, disengagement and apical migration for cilia nucleation. Our findings collectively suggest that the decomposition of centriole biogenesis over two cycle iterations in dividing cells may have been adopted to ensure the growth of a solitary primary cilium, and exemplify how minimal deviations of the canonical cell cycle allow MCC progenitors to both amplify, and accelerate, centriole biogenesis for vital motile ciliogenesis.
Cite
Boudjema AR, Balagué R, Jewett CE, Serizay J, LoMastro GM, Mercey O, et al. The cell cycle variant in multiciliated cells incorporates 2 centriole biogenesis cycles. eLife. 2026. doi:10.7554/eLife.96584.2
@article{boudjema_elife_2026,
author = {Boudjema, Amélie-Rose and Balagué, Rémi and Jewett, Cayla E and Serizay, Jacques and LoMastro, Gina M and Mercey, Olivier and Jord, Adel Al and Candat, Adrien and Faucourt, Marion and Schaeffer, Alexandre and Noûs, Camille and Delgehyr, Nathalie and Holland, Andrew J and Spassky, Nathalie and Meunier, Alice},
title = {{The cell cycle variant in multiciliated cells incorporates 2 centriole biogenesis cycles}},
journal = {eLife},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.7554/eLife.96584.2},
url = {https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.96584.2}
}