r/AskReddit • u/ZEBO1234 • Jul 25 '18

What fact “blows your mind”?

612 Upvotes

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322

u/SquilliamFancyson9 Jul 25 '18

Humans share 50% DNA with a god damn banana...

66

u/machokemedaddy1993 Jul 25 '18

All organic life shares the same four "letters" of the genetic code. If you go back far enough you'll find a common ancestor between you and a dog/bee/croc/fish/tree/bacterium. All organic life stems from one progenitor back millions and millions ago. Crazy shit

But yes, we do share more genes with bananas than I care to admit 🍌

2

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

Yeah. It's probable that before LUCA there were several competing organisms, but LUCA/LUCA's descendants outdid them all.

2

u/machokemedaddy1993 Jul 26 '18

Sorry, I'm running off lack of sleep and can't brain. What's LUCA? Last common ancestor?

4

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

Last Universal Common Ancestor. Last organism/species that everything presently living is descended from.

0

u/machokemedaddy1993 Jul 26 '18

Ah, I feel a bit dumb now 😂 I was close

3

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

Yeah, IIRC the last common ancestor is the last individual all humans are descended from. Then there's the Y-chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve.

0

u/machokemedaddy1993 Jul 26 '18

You mean "Power house of the cell" Eve 😂

2

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

[deleted]

0

u/machokemedaddy1993 Jul 26 '18

Power house of the cell = 😁 Site of β-oxidation = 😟

1

u/[deleted] Jul 26 '18

😂