Not an animal, but one popular fruit shares 60% of human genes. Genetic expert says it’s not shocking: ‘There’s a lot of things we do the same way…'

It’s sweet. It’s yellow, squishy, pulpy, and so satisfying to eat. And, apparently, it has a lot in common with us. We are talking about bananas. The one fruit many of us can’t get enough of, even those who have been diagnosed with high blood sugar. According to numerous scientific reports, we share a whopping 60% of our DNA with this fruit.

According to an article published on the website of the biopharmaceutical company Pfizer, nearly every form of life carries its own biological blueprint in the form of a genome. This genetic guide contains the information an organism needs to develop, construct its various components, and carry out the processes required to survive. At the heart of these instructions is DNA, which contains the codes used to produce proteins. These complex molecules play a fundamental role in shaping an organism and keeping it alive. They influence traits such as eye and hair colour while also forming vital substances, including enzymes, antibodies and hormones.

Scientists have uncovered striking similarities among the genetic blueprints of numerous organisms by decoding their complete genomes. Research involving species such as yeast, rice and frogs has revealed that life on Earth shares a common genetic foundation. These similarities are explained by our shared evolutionary history. Modern organisms ultimately trace their ancestry back to a very early single-celled life form that existed roughly three to four billion years ago. This hypothetical ancestral organism is known as the last universal common ancestor, or LUCA.


A lot of the ‘housekeeping DNA’ genes, such as the replicating the DNA, help cells divide, etc., are shared between many plants and animals.

In an interview with HowStuffWorks, genetics expert Dr Lawrence Brody, head of the research team at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which shared the result of this groundbreaking study of bananas being our “relatives” (sort of) in 2013, explained the secret behind this similarity and said that the similarities are slightly less than the popular estimates. Brody explained that DNA should be considered the blueprint of the house and protein products the actual house, as all the information is in there.

One way to understand the relationship between human and banana DNA is to imagine two houses built from different architectural plans. A human genome could be compared with the blueprint for a ranch-style house, while a banana genome might resemble the plans for a colonial-style home. Although the two buildings may look very different once completed, they can still share basic features such as plumbing systems, kitchens, and bathrooms. Genetic similarities work in much the same way.

It is also important to remember that genes—the portions of DNA that contain instructions for producing proteins—account for only about 2 per cent of the human genome. In this experiment, researchers began by examining the gene sequences found in a representative banana genome. They carried out more than four million sequence comparisons between the two genomes. From those analyses, approximately 7,000 of the strongest matches were identified. Researchers then calculated the average similarity percentage across those matched sequences, producing an overall figure of roughly 40 percent.

This was the average similarity between proteins (gene products, not genes). Proteins are the biochemical material that materialises if the gene becomes functional, he explained.

The banana genome has a recognisable homologue for over 60% of our genes. When we compare the amino acid sequence of the human protein with its counterpart in the banana, the proteins encoded by those 60% are around 40% identical.

“If you think about what we do for a living and what a banana does, there are a lot of things we do the same way, like consuming oxygen. A lot of those genes are just fundamental to life,” Brody explained.