O-70 - BANAL RBDs bind human ACE2 ~3x more strongly than early SARS-CoV-2; BANAL-236 RBD-hACE2 crystal near-identical
By biolayer interferometry, the BANAL-52/103 and BANAL-236 RBDs bind human ACE2 with a dissociation constant three times lower (higher affinity) than the early Wuhan SARS-CoV-2 RBD; the BANAL-236 RBD-hACE2 crystal structure (PDB 7PKI, 2.9 A) is essentially identical to SARS-CoV-2 (Ca RMSD 0.36 A).
Link to original
Why this is evidence
Wild BANAL RBDs binding hACE2 about three times more strongly than early SARS-CoV-2 show natural RBDs already exceed it — undercutting ‘optimised in the lab’ and favouring H-41/H-42 over H-43.