Centrobin serves as a safeguard to guide timely centriole maturation during the cell cycle.

Centrioles assemble and segregate in link to the cell cycle. Daughter centrioles assemble at S phase, and become young mother centrioles after M phase. Since distal appendages (DAs) are installed to young mother centrioles at the second G2/M transition phase, it takes one and a half cell cycle for a daughter centriole to fully mature into an old mother centriole. Here, we investigated specific roles of centrobin on centriole maturation by tracing its centriole localization throughout the cell cycle. Centrobin instantly places at the nascent daughter centrioles during the S phase, maintains its localization through subsequent cell cycle as these daughter centrioles mature into young mother centrioles, and detaches from the young mother centriole during the G2 phase, prior to DA installation. Centrobin KO cells exhibit two DA-installed centrioles, due to premature DA installation in daughter centrioles, and can produce doublet cilia from two DA-installed basal bodies. We also present evidence that direct phosphorylation of Plk1 is crucial for centrobin attachment to centrioles during G2 and M phases. Finally, premature DA installation was also observed in centrobin KO mice. Our results collectively demonstrate that centrobin serves as a safeguard to guide timely centriole maturation during the cell cycle.