Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
How close is every living thing to us at the DNA level? In this video, we rank 141 organisms—from bacteria and algae to insects, fishes, birds, mammals, and great apes—by their DNA similarity to humans.
We use a single, consistent metric for every entry: the percentage of human protein-coding genes that have a detectable ortholog in species X (i.e., shared genes with common ancestry). Values are rounded to single percentages for clarity. This ortholog approach avoids misleading whole-genome identity numbers and makes cross-kingdom comparisons (microbes → plants → animals) fair and comparable.
Notes on interpretation:
Ortholog percentages highlight shared, essential biology (replication, metabolism, cell division, development). Distant groups cluster in narrower bands; closely related mammals and primates show higher values as expected.
Disclaimer: All percentages are best-estimate, rounded figures derived from a uniform ortholog method; exact values can vary with database/version and thresholds. This video is for educational visualization, not a primary research dataset.
How close is every living thing to us at the DNA level? In this video, we rank 141 organisms—from bacteria and algae to insects, fishes, birds, mammals, and great apes—by their DNA similarity to humans.
We use a single, consistent metric for every entry: the percentage of human protein-coding genes that have a detectable ortholog in species X (i.e., shared genes with common ancestry). Values are rounded to single percentages for clarity. This ortholog approach avoids misleading whole-genome identity numbers and makes cross-kingdom comparisons (microbes → plants → animals) fair and comparable.
Notes on interpretation:
Ortholog percentages highlight shared, essential biology (replication, metabolism, cell division, development). Distant groups cluster in narrower bands; closely related mammals and primates show higher values as expected.
Disclaimer: All percentages are best-estimate, rounded figures derived from a uniform ortholog method; exact values can vary with database/version and thresholds. This video is for educational visualization, not a primary research dataset.
