We share 60% of our DNA with bananas, but we are clearly not 60% banana.
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We are 60% banana, and banana is roughly 60% human. It’s just that the other 40% is enough to differentiate us from a banana.
When we say we share 60% of DNA with a banana, it means when you sequence out our DNA and a banana’s DNA, 60% of them match
DNA fundamentally is instructions to make proteins. A lot of the basic proteins needed for cells to function (build cell membranes, move things around, tie themselves in place, etc) are going to be the same even in very different organisms. As a result, pretty much any multicellular organisms are going to share a lot of DNA, because the instructions needed for the basic building blocks of cells are the same.
DNA is just a recipe on what proteins to make, how to build a cell, etc. That’s common between all life on earth. And 20% is still a lot of difference. That 20% includes all internal organs, 5 fingers and toes, backbone, eyes, etc. Again things that are shared with most (land) chordates. So by the time you get to chimps and humans, there’s only a 1-3% difference in DNA.
DNA contains the instructions for making proteins, which are very important molecules in biology that generally do most of the “heavy lifting” of keeping things running. Basically every living thing we have encountered so far is made of cells that all have roughly the same fundamental components, which means a ton of the same proteins are used for general functions like moving food around the cell, breaking down sugars, controlling cell division signals, etc., regardless of if you are a yeast cell or a plant cell or a human cell.
You can think of it kind of like Lego pieces shared between the Death Star set and a soccer stadium set. They are two very different structures, but they are both going to use a ton of the 2×2, 2×4, and other super common brick types (but maybe different colors). By shape alone, it’s very possible 60% of the brick shapes in one set are also found in the other set.
DNA is basically the instructions manual for life. Think about if you are building with legos and each block is a strain of DNA. Whether you are building a train or a plane, there will be some blocks and steps will be the same. That’s the similarity of the DNA. The different blocks and steps is what gives you a train vs a plane or a human vs a banana
So DNA is just a sequence of proteins that act like instructions for how to build an organism. It’s the foundation of every organism from bacteria to plankton to mushrooms to elephants. So clearly how you sequence DNA can create a lot of different possibilities. There are only 4 types of these proteins, what really matters is how these proteins are sequenced. When we say 50% of our DNA is shared with Bananas we mean that 50% of our DNA sequence is the same as a banana plant. The whole banana plant is the actual organism, the banana is just a fruit. So clearly everything that makes us different from banana plants is contained within that remaining 50%. And the 50% that’s the same might be stuff dealing with Mitochondria or something we don’t think about.
Ooh biologist here 🙂 We are actually very similar to bananas (or rather banana plants) at a cell/molecular level. The majority of DNA goes toward single-cell functions like basic metabolism (converting sugar to energy), moving stuff around inside our cells, signaling from one cell to another, replicating and repairing cells. Really basic but absolutely VITAL stuff. Humans and bananas might only have 40% difference in their DNA, but keep in mind that that is also thousands and thousands of genes. Plenty to create human vs. banana on top of the similar cell functions we both need to have.
DNA contains a lot of instructions for making very basic stuff that nearly everything needs. A plane and a boat are pretty different at first glance, but if you break it down to the level of the machine that makes pens for the workers to use is the same, stuff starts getting really similar really fast.
Evolution is lazy if there is no compelling reason to change something it won’t. So, for all the proteins that banana trees make that we humans also need, we don’t (usually) get some special process just for us.
What is scarier is how close we are to Orangutans and Bonobos, like barely a difference in the grand DNA scheme. It does, however, make a HUGE difference in the body plan.
Let’s take for example cars, motorbikes, airplanes, ships, construction vehicles and bicycles. They all are different in the way they function, but they all serve the same purpose; transportation. The basic idea comes from the same origin. They all need wheels and they all need gears to function.
Similarly, all life has evolved from a common ancestor or from a basic concept of a cell. Thus they all share some overlapping features and have some similarities in their DNA.
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