Figure 11. Proposed model for vacuolar Mlt1p transporter function and its roles in different phenotypes.

Mlt1p which is localized to the VM transports the PC analogue NBD-PC into the vacuolar lumen in an energy-dependent manner and maintains lipid homoeostasis. Thus MLT1 deletion may lead to defects in endocytosis and virulence. Deletion of MLT1 also negatively affects various virulence related traits such as hyphae formation, secretory protease activity/secretion and sensitivity to oxidative stress. Thus all of these phenotypes show their cumulative effect to attenuated virulence in the mlt1Δ/Δ mutant.