diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_api_core/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_api_core/default.nix
index abd4b886478a..baf590f99572 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_api_core/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_api_core/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { lib, buildPythonPackage, fetchPypi, pythonOlder
-, google_auth, protobuf3_5, googleapis_common_protos, requests, grpcio, futures, mock, pytest }:
+, google_auth, protobuf, googleapis_common_protos, requests, grpcio, futures, mock, pytest }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "google-api-core";
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
   };
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [
-    googleapis_common_protos protobuf3_5
+    googleapis_common_protos protobuf
     google_auth requests grpcio
   ] ++ lib.optional (pythonOlder "3.2") futures;
   checkInputs = [ mock pytest ];
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_gax/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_gax/default.nix
index 7de42bf8ec8c..daabba6c390a 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_gax/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/google_gax/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, buildPythonPackage, fetchPypi
-, google_auth, ply, protobuf3_5, grpcio, requests
+, google_auth, ply, protobuf, grpcio, requests
 , googleapis_common_protos, dill, future, pytest, mock, unittest2 }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     sha256 = "1d844c56f942d98f12a1b0ecabe8a17d69bef41ff513edd97253bcde02ffd929";
   };
 
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [ google_auth ply protobuf3_5 grpcio requests googleapis_common_protos dill future ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ google_auth ply protobuf grpcio requests googleapis_common_protos dill future ];
   checkInputs = [ pytest mock unittest2 ];
 
   # Importing test__grpc_google_auth fails with "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'google_auth_httplib2'", where
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/googleapis_common_protos/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/googleapis_common_protos/default.nix
index 7427e590c0ca..28e84f4846e7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/googleapis_common_protos/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/googleapis_common_protos/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, buildPythonPackage, fetchPypi
-, protobuf3_5, pytest }:
+, protobuf, pytest }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "googleapis-common-protos";
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     sha256 = "1whfjl44gy15ha6palpwa2m0xi36dsvpaz8vw0cvb2k2lbdfsxf0";
   };
 
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [ protobuf3_5 ];
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ protobuf ];
   checkInputs = [ pytest ];
 
   doCheck = false;  # there are no tests
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/grpcio/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/grpcio/default.nix
index 47e9d179eea7..d1f0903238c7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/grpcio/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/grpcio/default.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 { stdenv, buildPythonPackage, fetchPypi, lib
-, six, protobuf3_5, enum34, futures, isPy26, isPy27, isPy34 }:
+, six, protobuf, enum34, futures, isPy26, isPy27, isPy34 }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "grpcio";
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     sha256 = "e7c43b5619deff48cc177c1b0618c4beeb2797f910f160e3c2035d5baf790a5d";
   };
 
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six protobuf3_5 ]
+  propagatedBuildInputs = [ six protobuf ]
                         ++ lib.optionals (isPy26 || isPy27 || isPy34) [ enum34 ]
                         ++ lib.optionals (isPy26 || isPy27) [ futures ];
 
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
index e78aefef5604..e37d17f8fd14 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/python-packages.nix
@@ -10320,7 +10320,7 @@ in {
   protobuf = callPackage ../development/python-modules/protobuf {
     disabled = isPyPy;
     doCheck = !isPy3k;
-    protobuf = pkgs.protobuf;
+    protobuf = pkgs.protobuf3_5;
   };
 
   protobuf3_1 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/protobuf {
@@ -10329,12 +10329,6 @@ in {
     protobuf = pkgs.protobuf3_1;
   };
 
-  protobuf3_5 = callPackage ../development/python-modules/protobuf {
-    disabled = isPyPy;
-    doCheck = !isPy3k;
-    protobuf = pkgs.protobuf3_5;
-  };
-
   psd-tools = callPackage ../development/python-modules/psd-tools { };
 
   psutil = callPackage ../development/python-modules/psutil { };