Humans are 98% chimpanzee.

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What does it mean to say humans are 50% bananas and 98% chimpanzee?

Here is the percentage of genes in common between humans and other species (OMA method)

We have
98% of genes in common with the chimpanzee, 94% of genes in common with the mouse,
72% of genes in common with the zebrafish ….


zebrafish

And thus
about 25% of genes in common with the banana (OMA method).

Banana Split – In the Light of Evolution

https://share.google/HbmyFrNz5vg0JRNqr



What percent banana are you?

A simple search on the Internet will lead you to numerous web sites that mention that humans and the banana have between 17% and 50% of DNA in common.



Is that right?

Why are the values so different?

What does it mean when we refer to “percentage of DNA in common”?

How can this percentage be calculated?




The statement that humans are 25% bananas is not accurate. The widely cited percentage of shared genetic material between humans and bananas is generally higher, around 50% to 60% of their genes, depending on the method of comparison.

This figure refers to the fact that humans and bananas share fundamental "housekeeping" genes that are essential for basic cellular functions in all complex life forms (eukaryotes), such as DNA replication and cell division. These genes have been highly conserved throughout evolution from a common ancestor that lived billions of years ago.

However, it is important to note:
The comparison is typically made on specific genes and protein sequences that have equivalent functions, not the entire DNA sequence.

The shared genes make up a very small portion of the entire human DNA, likely less than 1% of the whole genome sequence.

Saying humans "are 25% bananas" is misleading. The percentage highlights a shared evolutionary heritage, not a substantial physical composition or a significant portion of overall genetic makeup in the popular sense.

In short, while we share a surprising number of basic functional genes with bananas, the idea that 25% (or even 50%) of the entirety of human DNA is identical to a banana's is a common misinterpretation of scientific findings.



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Do humans share 50 % of their dna with bananas?

No, humans do not share 50% of their DNA with bananas, and the figure is misleading. While it's true that humans and bananas share about 60% of their genes, this refers to basic cellular and "housekeeping" genes, not the entire DNA sequence.

These shared genes code for fundamental functions necessary for life in both organisms, such as DNA replication and cellular respiration, and they account for only about 1-2% of the total human genome.


Shared genes vs. shared DNA: The 60% figure refers to the proportion of human genes that have a recognizable counterpart in the banana genome. It does not mean 60% of the actual DNA sequences are identical.



Common ancestry:

The shared genes are highly conserved "housekeeping" genes that perform basic functions essential for all life. This demonstrates a common evolutionary origin, but the genes themselves are not identical and make up a small fraction of the total DNA.


Misleading "50%" claim:

The 50% claim is inaccurate and a misinterpretation of the 60% similarity in genes. When comparing the full DNA sequences, the similarity is much lower.


Accurate comparison:

A more precise way to look at the relationship is to consider the proteins these shared genes produce. On average, the proteins encoded by these homologous genes are about 40% identical in their amino acid sequences.

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DNA in common…or genes in common?

One way would be to calculate the percentage of DNA in common between humans and banana by aligning the 2 genomes in their entirety.

We could thus compare ALL the 3 billion letters A, T, C and G of the human genome sequence with ALL the 472 million letters A, T, C and G of the banana genome sequence and thus determine the percentage of similarity!




Did you know we share about 98% of our genes with chimpanzees? But how many with the banana?



We share about 98% of our genes with chimpanzees.

Chimpanzees are often considered as our closest ‘cousins’.

That seems evident to anyone who has seen the movie Planet of the Apes: chimpanzees and humans have many characteristics in common!

But did you know that we also share some of our genes with the banana?

The existence of these genes in common is proof of the relationship that exists between all living organisms.


Human, chimp and banana

Humans and chimpanzees have a large proportion of genes in common, as their common ancestor lived some 6 million years ago.

The ancestors common to humans and the banana lived some 1.5 billion years ago – just before the ‘banana split’.

One can thus expect that there will be considerably fewer genes in common between humans and the banana!


Sources: Genetic evidence for complex speciation of humans and chimpanzees (2006) - Divergence time estimates for the early history of animal phyla and the origin of plants, animals and fungi (1999).



Source: "Neil Saunders: 50% banana" - "Do humans share 50 % of their dna with bananas?" - "The banana conjecture"



A BIT OF BIOLOGY > Cell, chromosome, DNA and genome

These comparisons have been made by aligning the human genome with the complete genome of other species.

The results: by comparing entire genomes, the human genome is

91% similar to that of the chimpanzee,

33% similar to that of the mouse, and 1% similar to that of the zebrafish.

Source: Ensembl Compara (Human-Chimp, Human-Mouse, Human-Zebrafish)

The more distant two species are in evolution, the smaller the percentage of their genomes can be aligned.

For plants, this percentage will thus be less than 1%!

Aligning the entire human genome with that of the banana (which is 6 times smaller) is thus a daunting task…and does not necessarily make sense in our case!