Fig. 3: Chemical structures of monomers tested in MD and metadynamics simulations.

Structures of aminobenzoic acid and cyclic β2,3-2-aminocyclopentane-1-carboxylic acid monomers and data from in vitro translation assays are shown. The yield shown represents the relative efficiency of translation of DNA template fMet-Trp-Lys-Lys-Trp-Lys-Lys-Trp-Lys-X-Gly-Asp-Tyr-Lys-Asp-Asp-Asp-Asp-Lys (for aminobenzoic acids) or fMet-Trp-Lys-Lys-Trp-Lys-Lys-Trp-Lys-Phe-X-Gly-Asp-Tyr-Lys-Asp-Asp-Asp-Asp-Lys (for cyclic β2,3-2-aminocyclopentane-1-carboxylic acid monomers). In vitro translation reaction conditions were comparable within each monomer class, as was the efficiency of tRNA acylation. Because the templates differ, comparisons are limited to those within a given monomer class. The value for Met was estimated at 2.5 times the efficiency of Ala.