Crystals of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae elongation factor 2 (eEF2) in complex with GDP were obtained with the vapour-diffusion technique after rapid purification from industrial yeast. The crystals diffract to 2.85 A and belong to the space group P2(1)2(1)2(1). A yeast strain expressing a functional histidine-tagged eEF2 as the only form of the protein further allows facilitated purification of the factor for both structural and functional studies.