We do in fact share about 50% of our genes with plants – including bananas.” “Bananas have 44.1% of genetic makeup in common with humans.”
Banana: more than 60 percent identical
Many of the “housekeeping” genes that are necessary for basic cellular function, such as for replicating DNA, controlling the cell cycle, and helping cells divide are shared between many plants (including bananas) and animals.
More startling is an even newer discovery: we share 99% of our DNA with lettuce. This could have startling philosophical, scientific and medical implications.
The 50 per cent figure for people and bananas roughly means that half of our genes have counterparts in bananas. For example, both of us have some kind of gene that codes for cell growth, though these aren't necessarily made up of the same DNA sequences.
Back to the question on similarity between humans and bananas - overall, the vast majority of human DNA is very different to bananas. However, if you just look at the 2% of DNA corresponding to protein-coding genes, there is a pretty high degree of similarity between them; which is where the 50% comes from.
About 60 percent of chicken genes correspond to a similar human gene. However, researchers uncovered more small sequence differences between corresponding pairs of chicken and human genes, which are 75 percent identical on average, than between rodent and human gene pairs, which are 88 percent identical on average.
Chimpanzees are our closest relative as a species and we share at least 98% of our genome with them. Our feline friends share 90% of homologous genes with us, with dogs it is 82%, 80% with cows, 69% with rats and 67% with mice [1].
And, it turns out; the fish are a lot like people. Humans and zebrafish share 70 percent of the same genes and 84 percent of human genes known to be associated with human disease have a counterpart in zebrafish.
Cows and humans do indeed share 80% of their DNA, the building block of all life on earth, according to this 2009 study in the journal Science. But humans are genetically closer to a host of species than they are to cows, including cats, dogs, horses, and our closest relatives, apes.
It's probably not that surprising to learn that humans share 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees–but incredibly, we also share 70% with slugs and 50% with bananas.
Humans and cabbage share about 40-50% common DNA, while 98% of your DNA is common with a chimpanzee!
For the first time ever, a group of researchers has sequenced the genome of the spider. This knowledge provides a much more qualified basis for studying features of the spider. It also shows that humans share certain genomic similarities with spiders.
In all fairness, we share nearly 1/3 of our genetic sequence with potatoes but we are far more complex beings. Those differences in genetic code make a huge difference. One that doesn't matter is the number of chromosomes.
Its findings suggested that all humans are 99.9% genetically identical and only 0.1% of genetic variations are responsible for the phenotypic differences, such as physical traits (eg, height, intelligence, hair, and eye color), disease susceptibility, and drug responses, among individuals in populations.
The recent sequencing of the gorilla, chimpanzee and bonobo genomes confirms that supposition and provides a clearer view of how we are connected: chimps and bonobos in particular take pride of place as our nearest living relatives, sharing approximately 99 percent of our DNA, with gorillas trailing at 98 percent.
Ever since researchers sequenced the chimp genome in 2005, they have known that humans share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, making them our closest living relatives.
How much DNA do we share with pigs? We've all heard the expression “pigging out.” Interestingly enough, human beings also share a huge amount of genetic material with pigs. Almost as much as we do with chimpanzees! The genetic DNA similarity between pigs and human beings is 98%.
Cats and humans share 90% of their DNA
Do you know how genetically close your feline is it to you? You may have thought that dogs would be a little closer to humans on the evolutionary scale, but it turns out that cats actually have 90.2% of the DNA in common with us! You read that right!
Repeated interbreeding between gray wolves and dogs, which share 99.9 percent of their DNA, had produced misleading signals in the earlier studies.
Scientists have now completed a draft sequence of the frog Xenopus tropicalis and found that the amphibian's genome contains remarkable similarities to those of the mouse, the chicken and, yes, even the human genome.
Some 450 million years ago, sharks and humans shared a common ancestor, making sharks our distant cousins. And according to recent research, this kinship is evident in our DNA, as at least one shark species possesses several genes that are nearly identical to those in humans.
If people reproduced by taking 23 pairs of chromosomes from the mother and 23 pairs of chromosomes from the father, the baby would have too many chromosomes (46 pairs). So eggs and sperm carry only half the usual number of chromosomes — just 23 unpaired chromosomes, carrying one version of each gene.
These three species look alike in many ways, both in body and behavior. But for a clear understanding of how closely they are related, scientists compare their DNA, an essential molecule that's the instruction manual for building each species. Humans and chimps share a surprising 98.8 percent of their DNA.
Thus, if one compares the DNA of a human and a daffodil, the 25 percent mark is actually the zero mark, and since humans and daffodils do share a common ancestry, one would expect them to be generally more similar than 25 percent—say about 35 percent.
Judging from the data presented in a recent paper in the journal Nature, humans and whales appear to share about 80% of their DNA. However, this estimate is based on only 18 genes, and for various reasons these genes may not be representative of the genome as a whole.