Whenever a single percentage is used to state how similar two genomes are, reporters and scientists must publish the exact comparison protocol (regions aligned, variant classes counted, gaps/indels handling, reference assemblies used). A short, machine‑readable provenance badge should accompany any headline percent‑identity claim so non‑experts and policymakers can see what was actually measured.
— Requiring provenance for genome‑percent claims prevents rhetorical misuse in education, media, policy and culture wars and raises the evidence bar for claims invoked in legal or political arguments about biological differences.
Davide Piffer
2026.01.15
100% relevant
This article documents how the familiar '99%' figure depends on alignment‑restricted SNV counts versus whole‑genome comparisons that include indels and repeats; the specific example (telomere‑to‑telomere comparisons yielding ~84–85% one‑to‑one bases) is the concrete case that motivates the provenance badge.
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