Mating type proteins are sequence specific DNA-binding proteins that act as master switches in yeast differentiation by controlling gene expression in a cell type-specific fashion. There are three genetic loci for mating type genes in C.glabrata. MTL1 seems to be the expression locus that determines the mating type of the cell, whereas MTL2 (containing MTL2A1) and MTL3 (containing MTL3ALPHA1 and MTL3ALPHA2) appear to represent silenced repositories of mating type information. Notably, MTL3ALPHA2 contains a unique stretch coding for 22 amino acids at the C-terminus that is not shared by MTL1ALPHA2. Haploid C.glabrata strains can switch mating type, however, neither mating nor diploid forms of C.glabrata have been observed so far. Belongs to the TALE/M-ATYP homeobox family.