Vacuolar membrane protein involved in sterol trafficking with Npc2p; conformational changes drive sterol translocation across the glycocalyx and into the vacuolar membrane; involved in sphingolipid metabolism; cells lacking Ncr1p exhibit high levels of long chain bases (LCBs), similar to accumulation of lipids observed in patients with Neimann-Pick C disease due to loss-of-function mutations in human NPC1; transits through the vacuolar protein sorting pathway via the AP-3 pathway