Pyrrolysine (Pyl), the 22nd naturally encoded amino acid, gets acylated to its distinctive UAG suppressor tRNAPyl by the cognate pyrrolysyl-tRNA synthetase (PylRS). Here we determine the RNA elements required for recognition and aminoacylation of tRNAPyl in vivo by using the Pyl analog N-ε-cyclopentyloxycarbonyl-L-lysine. Forty-two Methanosarcina barkeri tRNAPyl variants were tested in Escherichia coli for suppression of the lac amber A24 mutation; then relevant tRNAPyl mutants were selected to determine in vivo binding to M. barkeri PylRS in a yeast three-hybrid system and to measure in vitro tRNAPyl aminoacylation. tRNAPyl identity elements include the discriminator base, the first base pair of the acceptor stem, the T-stem base pair G51:C63, and the anticodon flanking nucleotides U33 and A37. Transplantation of the tRNAPyl identity elements into the mitochondrial bovine tRNASer scaffold yielded chimeric tRNAs active both in vitro and in vivo. Because the anticodon is not important for PylRS recognition, a tRNAPyl variant could be constructed that efficiently suppressed the lac opal U4 mutation in E. coli. These data suggest that tRNAPyl variants may decode numerous codons and that tRNAPyl:PylRS is a fine orthogonal tRNA:synthetase pair that facilitated the late addition of Pyl to the genetic code.