O-9 - BANAL-236 RBD binds human ACE2 like SARS-CoV-2 and the virus replicates in human cells in vitro
Wet-lab binding + infectivity assays on a wild-caught bat virus. Demonstrates a naturally occurring, human-cell-infectious SARS-CoV-2-like RBD.
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Why this is evidence
Human-cell infectivity arises in nature without passage or engineering, which is expected under H-1 and H-6 and removes one of the main reasons H-5 posits a laboratory step. Favours the natural-route members.