Cycloheximide (CYH) resistance in the yeast Candida maltosa is based on the inducible expression of genes encoding a variant of ribosomal protein L41-Q, with glutamine at position 56 instead of proline found in normal L41. The promoter of L41-Q2a, one of the L41-Q gene alleles encoding L41-Q, has an element similar to the Gcn4p-responsive element (GCRE) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In a previous study, this element was shown to be essential for the induction of L41-Q by CYH. In the present study, a C. maltosa GCN4 homolog, C-GCN4 was cloned. It had a long 5-leader region with three upstream open reading frames (uORFs). Enhanced expression of the C-GCN4-reporter fusion gene upon the addition of 3-aminotriazole or by mutations in start codons of all three uORFs indicates that C-GCN4 expression is under the translation repression as was seen with GCN4. The C-GCN4-depleted mutant was unable to grow in a nutrient medium containing CYH, and did not express L41-Q genes. Recombinant C-Gcn4p bound to the consensus DNA element for Gcn4p, 5-G/ATGACTCAT-3, located upstream of L41-Q2a. Thus, C-Gcn4p, which likely functions in the general control of amino acid biosynthesis, is essential for the expression of L41-Q genes.