An alternative cell cycle coordinates multiciliated cell differentiation.

The canonical mitotic cell cycle coordinates DNA replication, centriole duplication and cytokinesis to generate two cells from one. Some cells, such as mammalian trophoblast giant cells, use cell cycle variants like the endocycle to bypass mitosis. Differentiating multiciliated cells, found in the mammalian airway, brain ventricles and reproductive tract, are post-mitotic but generate hundreds of centrioles, each of which matures into a basal body and nucleates a motile cilium.