This protein forms part of the Class C vacuolar protein sorting (Vps) complex. Vps16 is essential for vacuolar protein sorting, which is essential for viability in plants, but not yeast. The Class C Vps complex is required for SNARE-mediated membrane fusion at the lysosome-like yeast vacuole. It is thought to play essential roles in membrane docking and fusion at the Golgi-to-endosome and endosome-to-vacuole stages of transport. The role of VPS16 in this complex is not known.