Translational regulation refers to the control of the levels

Regulation of gene expression

Gene modulation redirects here. For information on therapeutic regulation of gene expression, see therapeutic gene modulation.Regulation of gene expression includes the processes that cells and viruses use to regulate the way that the information in genes is turned into gene products...

 of protein

Protein

Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...

 synthesized from its mRNA. The corresponding mechanisms are primarily targeted on the control of ribosome

Ribosome

A ribosome is a component of cells that assembles the twenty specific amino acid molecules to form the particular protein molecule determined by the nucleotide sequence of an RNA molecule....

 recruitment on the initiation codon, but can also involve modulation of the elongation or termination of protein synthesis. In most cases, translational regulation involves specific RNA secondary structures on the mRNA.