Letter: Preliminary crystallographic data for Escherichia coli beta-lactamase

The β-lactamase (penicillinase) from Escherichia coli W3310 has been crystallized from 25% saturated ammonium sulfate solution at pH 6.9. An X-ray examination of the monoclinic crystals shows the space group is C2, with unit cell dimensions $\text{a = 47.2}\text{A}\text{?}$, $\text{b = 76.9}\text{A}\text{?}$, $\text{c = 73.3}\text{A}\text{?}$ and β = 98.6°. With Z = 4 and the molecular weight = 22,000 (Melling &; Scott, 1972), the ų/dalton ratio is 2.98. The crystals are suitable for structure analysis to at least 2.4 Å resolution.