NPC1 and infection: These findings provide not only an explanation for the defective phagosomal maturation observed followingMtb infection, but also provide a unified mechanistic framework accounting for other unexplained phenotypes inMtb-infected macrophages, including cholesterol5 and LacCer storage33, calcium homeostatic defects15, GM1 mistrafficking73, elevated NPC1 expression33 and bystander effects on neighbouring cells52.