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This review will describe the recent identification of a wheat protein, gennin, whose function as an oxalate oxidase was first revealed in the early part of this century but which has relnained largely overlooked since that time. Discovery of the sequence of this important enzyme (it is widely used in medical diagnosis) has now led to the further identification of a wide range of related proteins with a siInilar~-barrel structure. This ne\v protein superfanlily-designated'cupins'-include several small nlicrobial proteins, and many plant storage proteins that are duplicated versions of the underlying gennin sequence. Most recently, honlology modelling based on the structure of phaseolin has been used to generate a 3D structure of germin and it is expected that this information can be utilized to study the active siteofthisenzymeand its relatiYes.