Elongation factor P is modified with (R)-ß-lysine by the lysyl-tRNA synthetase (LysRS) paralog PoxA. PoxA specificity is orthogonal to LysRS, despite their high similarity. To investigate a- and ß-lysine recognition by LysRS and PoxA, amino acid replacements were made in the LysRS active site guided by the PoxA structure. A233S LysRS behaved as wild type with a-lysine, while the G469A and A233S/G469A variants decreased stable a-lysyl-adenylate formation. A233S LysRS recognized ß-lysine better than wildtype, suggesting a role for this residue in discriminating a- and ß-amino acids. Both enantiomers of ß-lysine were substrates for tRNA aminoacylation by LysRS, which, together with the relaxed specificity of the A233S variant, suggest a possible means to develop systems for in vivo co-translational insertion of ß-amino acids.