DNA percentages shared

[kitkat]

It is stated that we share 98% of our DNA with apes. If our DNA is 90% bacteria DNA leaving us with only 10% then how is 98% shared with an ape?

[Psycho]

It is stated that we share 98% of our DNA with apes. If our DNA is 90% bacteria DNA leaving us with only 10% then how is 98% shared with an ape?

Do you have a citation where it says 90% of our DNA is the same as bacteria as I don't believe that to be true.

[zule]

I don’t know if the percentage of 90% is accurate, but the matter is: It is not that the human would share a % of DNA with bacteria and from the remainder of non-shared DNA, other % with monkeys. It would be that both monkeys and human would share a % of DNA with bacteria, and besides, monkeys and humans would share a % of the non-shared with bacteria DNA.

[kitkat]

Do you have a citation where it says 90% of our DNA is the same as bacteria as I don't believe that to be true.

 

The bacteria boom – implications of the Human Microbiome Project

[CharonY]

I do not think that the info is in the article. It does not make sense, either way you look at it. The from the viewpoint of pure base pairs, the human genome is around 3 billion, bacteria around 3 million base pairs. Also on the gene level, average bacteria got around 5000, humans around 20k to 25k. Given the fact that bacteria have a lot of genes unique to their metabolism there is no way you could match up the genes to 90%. Depending on the metrics, humans have around 80-90% similarity to e.g. mice (fellow mammals).

And as already mentioned, sequences are not unique to a species. e.g. humans share around 98-99 with chimpanzees, 90% with mice, whereas mice and chimpanzee also share around 90% with mice. Drawing this as a venn diagramm you will find that the majority is likely to be in the field shared by all three species.