FactSentinel

The claim misreads a real statistic. The figure of roughly 60 percent usually refers to the share of human genes that have a recognizable counterpart, or homolog, in bananas and many other organisms. It does not mean that 60 percent of human DNA is identical to banana DNA. Protein-coding genes make up only about 1 to 2 percent of the human genome, and even matching genes are usually similar rather than identical. Shared genes often differ in many individual letters of their sequence.

These shared genes exist because all living things descend from a common ancestor. Plants, animals, and fungi all rely on the same basic cellular machinery, including genes for copying DNA, building proteins, and producing energy. Those functions are so essential that the genes behind them have been preserved across a billion years of evolution. Finding similar genes in a banana and a person reflects shared ancestry, not shared body plans.

The "60 percent banana" conclusion also confuses gene overlap with what makes an organism what it is. Humans and bananas differ in how their genomes are organized, how many genes they contain, and how those genes are switched on and off. Those differences account for the gap between a primate and a fruit-bearing plant. A more direct comparison, human and chimpanzee DNA, shows about 98 to 99 percent sequence similarity, a far closer relationship than the one with bananas. Sharing many basic genes shows that life is related, but it does not make a person part banana.