Humans share more than 50 percent of their genetic information with plants and animals in general. They share about 80 percent with cows, 61 percent with bugs such as fruit flies. You’ll even find human DNA in a banana – about 60 percent!
Humans are most closely related to the great apes of the family Hominidae. This family includes orangutans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos. Of the great apes, humans share 98.8 percent of their DNA with bonobos and chimpanzees. Humans and gorillas share 98.4 percent of their DNA.
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]. Human and chimpanzee DNA is so similar because the two species are so closely related.
In general, however, the overall conclusion is that most genes would share about 98.5 percent similarity. The actual protein sequences encoded by these genes would then typically be slightly more similar to one another, because many of the mutations in the DNA are “silent” and are not reflected in the protein sequence.
Also, the study finds that approximately one-fourth of the human genome is shared with both rats and mice. That’s approximately 700 megabases of DNA shared by all three animals.
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. Major organs and tissues are also common. Zebrafish genome has also been fully sequenced to a very high quality.
Domesticated cattle share about 80 per cent of their genes with humans, according to a 2009 report in the journal Science. When it comes to insects’ DNA, humans have a bit less in common.
The proportion of repetitive elements (the most common form of “junk DNA”) in snake genomes is about the same as that in humans (~60%).