Changes in tRNA synthesis and maturation can affect protein production.
The rate of pre-tRNA synthesis can be altered by changes in transcription rate, with a subset of ‘housekeeping’ tRNAs showing limited responses to environmental stress. In addition, tRNA abundance can be affected by changes in pre-tRNA processing, nuclear export and reimport, or surveillance activities. Different mRNAs show distinct patterns of codon bias, so changes in the relative tRNA abundances can alter protein expression levels.