Motile cilia are cellular beating machines that play a critical role in mucociliary clearance, cerebrospinal fluid movement, and fertility. In the airways, hundreds of motile cilia present on the surface of a multiciliated epithelia cell beat coordinately to protect the epithelium from bacteria, viruses, and harmful particulates. During multiciliated cell differentiation, motile cilia are templated from basal bodies, each extending a basal foot—an appendage linking motile cilia together to ensure coordinated beating. Here, we demonstrate that among the many motile cilia of a multiciliated cell, a hybrid cilium with structural features of both primary and motile cilia is harbored. The hybrid cilium is conserved in mammalian multiciliated cells, originates from parental centrioles, and its cellular position is biased and dependent on ciliary beating. Furthermore, we show that the hybrid cilium emerges independently of other motile cilia and functions in regulating basal body alignment.

运动纤毛是细胞跳动机器，在黏液纤毛清除、脑脊液运动和生育能力方面发挥着关键作用。在气道中，存在于多纤毛上皮细胞表面上的数百个活动纤毛协调跳动，以保护上皮免受细菌、病毒和有害颗粒的侵害。在多纤毛细胞分化过程中，活动纤毛是从基体模板化的，每个纤毛都延伸出一个基足——一个将活动纤毛连接在一起以确保协调跳动的附属物。在这里，我们证明在多纤毛细胞的许多运动纤毛中，含有具有初级和运动纤毛结构特征的混合纤毛。杂交纤毛在哺乳动物的多纤毛细胞中是保守的，起源于亲本中心粒，其细胞位置是有偏差的，依赖于纤毛跳动。