Space Group Symmetry Form

Given the space group name or number this form will list the symmetry operations and some other space group related data. The cell parameters are used to distinguish between ambiguous spacegroups like monoclinic and rhombohedral. Furthermore they are used for a consistency check and to calculate the unit cell volume. There are some restrictions:

• Only the 65 space groups that are allowed for proteins are included
• Only the standard settings (plus monoclinic C-unique and rhombohedral) are included

Enter the space group name or number :   
(or HELP to list supported space groups)



Enter the cell parameters (optional):

 A      ; B     ; C     

 Alpha  ; Beta  ; gamma 

The source code of the program that retrieves the symmetry information is available here. It uses only 45 symmetry generators to create all 65 space groups that are allowed for protein crystals. It has code to distinguish between B-unique versus C-unique settings for monoclinic space groups and rhombohedral versus hexagonal settings for rhombohedral space groups. Furthermore it will check the validity of the cell parameters if they were given by the user. It should be trivial to modify the code so that you can use it as a subroutine in your own programs.

For questions or suggestions please send e-mail to: bart.hazes@Ualberta.ca