"Researchers have discovered coronaviruses lurking in Laotian bats that appear to be the closest known relatives to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, found to date,......................... dubbed BANAL-52, BANAL-103 and BANAL-236 ..........
Previously, the closest known relative to SARS-CoV-2 was RaTG13, which was found in horseshoe bats in 2013 and shares 96.1 percent of its genome with SARS-CoV-2, Nature News reported.
What's more, all three of the newly discovered viruses are more similar to SARS-CoV-2 in a key part of their genome – called the receptor binding domain (RBD) – than other known viruses.
The RBD is the part of the virus that allows it to bind to host cells. With SARS-CoV-2, the RBD binds to a receptor known as ACE2 on human cells, and the virus uses this receptor as a gateway into cells.
Critically, the new study found that BANAL-52, BANAL-103 and BANAL-236 can bind to ACE2 and use it to enter human cells. So far, other candidates proposed as ancestors of SARS-CoV-2 found in bats, including RaTG13, haven't been able to do this, the researchers said."
