Highly ordered crystals of the plant seed protein crambin.

Crystals of crambin, a plant seed protein of molecular weight 5000, diffract X-rays strongly to the interplanar spacing limit of 0.88 Å. These diffraction data should allow a definition of atomic structure that is on a par with that typically obtained from crystals of small organic molecules. The crystals are in space group P2₁ and have unit cell dimensions $\text{a = 41.1}\text{A}\text{?}\text{, b = 18.7}\text{A}\text{?}\text{, c = 22·7}\text{A}\text{?}\text{,}\text{and}\text{β = 90.6 °}$. The asymmetric unit contains one protein molecule.