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Pineapples have been used by humans as a food source for more than 6,000 years. Scientists have discovered that early pineapple and grass species experienced numerous doublings of their genomes as part of a process known as whole-genome duplications.
bananas
Even bananas surprisingly still share about 60\% of the same DNA as humans!
What fruit has the most human DNA?
Humans don’t just share a high percentage of DNA with bananas – we also share 85 percent DNA with a mouse and 61 percent with a fruit fly.
How do you extract DNA from a pineapple?
Add a pinch of salt, a squirt of washing liquid and a few drops of pineapple juice – these all help to break down the cells and release the DNA. Mix gently with a cocktail stick but try not to mix so fast you make bubbles.
With the high-quality watermelon sequence now complete, it is hoped that breeders can now use the information to recover some of these natural disease defenses. The authors reported that the genome of the domesticated watermelon contained 23,440 genes, roughly the same number of genes as in humans.
Why do pineapple burn my tongue?
Because the bromelain dissolves the protective mucous that coats your tongue and the roof of your mouth, the acidity of the pineapple is particularly irritating. It’s the one-two punch of bromelain and acid that really drives the stinging sensation home.
Can you extract DNA from any fruit?
DNA can be extracted from anything living. You could also try this experiment with strawberries or bananas. Make sure you remove the fruit skins as they are mostly dead and don’t contain DNA. The kiwi needs to be broken up so the extraction solution can get to the cells.
How much DNA do humans share with other fruits?
Francis adds that humans likely share about 1 percent of their DNA with other fruits as well. “This is because all life that exists on earth has evolved from a single cell that originated about 1.6 billion years ago,” he says. “In a sense, we are all relatives!” Humans also share 96 percent DNA with a chimp and 90 percent DNA with a cat!
What can we learn from the genomes of pineapple varieties?
We sequenced the genomes of pineapple varieties F153 and MD2 and a wild pineapple relative, Ananas bracteatus accession CB5. The pineapple genome has one fewer ancient whole-genome duplication event than sequenced grass genomes and a conserved karyotype with seven chromosomes from before the ρ duplication event.
How much of your DNA do bananas make up?
But with bananas, we share about 50 percent of our genes, which turns out to be only about 1 percent of our DNA,” emails Mike Francis, a Ph.D. student in bioinformatics at the University of Georgia. As we said earlier, genes make up just 2 percent of your DNA. So, what’s the other 98 percent made up of?
What percentage of human genes are similar to bananas?
About 60 percent of our genes have a recognizable counterpart in the banana genome! “Of those 60 percent, the proteins encoded by them are roughly 40 percent identical when we compare the amino acid sequence of the human protein to its equivalent in the banana,” Brody adds.