Humans Share 60% of Their DNA With Bananas

Humans share approximately 60% of their DNA with bananas. This surprising genetic overlap exists because all living things on Earth evolved from common ancestors billions of years ago.

Why We Share DNA With Bananas

All life on Earth uses the same genetic code made from four chemical bases called adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. These bases pair up to form DNA strands that contain instructions for building and operating living cells. When scientists compare human DNA to banana DNA, they find that about 60% of our genes have recognizable counterparts in bananas that perform similar functions.

The Universal Genetic Code

Every living thing on Earth, from bacteria to blue whales, uses the exact same genetic code to translate DNA into proteins. This universal code provides strong evidence that all life descended from a single common ancestor that lived over 3.5 billion years ago. A gene that tells a human cell to produce a certain protein will create the same protein if you put that gene into a bacterial cell.

What the 60% Really Means

The 60% figure does not mean that 60% of your body is banana or that you are more than half banana. Humans have between 20,000 to 25,000 genes total. Of those, about 12,000 to 15,000 have equivalents in bananas that share similar DNA sequences.

DNA Similarities Across Species

We share 98.8% of our DNA with chimpanzees because we split from a common ancestor only 6 to 7 million years ago. We share about 85% with mice, 65% with chickens, and 60% with fruit flies. Even organisms that look nothing like us often share 50% or more of our genes because those genes control basic life processes.

Evolutionary Conservation of Genes

Scientists call genes that remain similar across many species highly conserved genes. These genes survived billions of years of evolution because they perform critical functions that cannot easily change without killing the organism. Genes for basic metabolism, DNA repair, and cell division are highly conserved because all living things need these processes.

What Makes Us Different

Despite sharing 60% of our DNA with bananas, humans are obviously very different from fruit. The genes we do not share with plants control development of nervous systems, brains, muscles, bones, and specialized organs. The same gene might be active during a banana's entire life but only turn on briefly during human embryonic development.