They say siblings share about 50% of their DNA. Yet it is also said that bananas and humans share 50-60% of their genetic material. What exactly is each claim referring to?

Question

They say siblings share about 50% of their DNA. Yet it is also said that bananas and humans share 50-60% of their genetic material. What exactly is each claim referring to?

In: Biology

Answer 1

Actually, given two random humans, they share 99.4% of their genome. While given a human and a banana, they share ~60%.

The 50% thing is actually short for: in those 0.6% of variation, sibling share 50%, this means only 0.3% of difference between them.

So in the end, sibling actually share 99.7% of their DNA.