FAQ: Can I use E. coli tRNA (NEB #N6845) with yeast, insect, mammalian or other eukaryotic translation systems?

Although translation mechanisms are very similar in prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems, the initiation steps show important differences: for instance, in eukaryotic systems, methionyl-tRNA (Met-tRNAi) is not formylated and it interacts (initiates) with the ribosome as a complex with eIF2 and GTP. Therefore, a mix of prokaryotic tRNA will lack all necessary attributes to sustain effective protein synthesis in the presence of eukaryotic ribosomes.