The protovertebrate type A (sometimes called ) contains a series of sensory cell types distributed across the head-tail axis of swimming tadpoles. They arise from lateral regions of the neural plate that exhibit properties of vertebrate placodes and neural crest. The sensory determinant is known to work in concert with regional determinants, such as and , to produce palp sensory cells (PSCs) and bipolar tail neurons (BTNs), in head and tail regions, respectively. A combination of single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) assays, computational analysis, and experimental manipulations suggests that misexpression of results in variable transformations of epidermal cells into hybrid sensory cell types, including those exhibiting properties of both PSCs and BTNs. Hybrid properties are due to coexpression of and that is triggered by an unexpected feedback loop. Hybrid cells were also found to express a synthetic gene battery that is not coexpressed in any known cell type. We discuss these results with respect to the opportunities and challenges of reprogramming cell types through the targeted misexpression of cellular determinants.