Yes, humans and bananas are distantly related in the tree of life. Both come from a very ancient common ancestor if you go far enough back in evolutionary time.
Shared ancestry
All living things on Earth use the same basic genetic material (DNA built from A, T, C, and G) and descended from very early single‑celled organisms, so humans and bananas ultimately share a very old common ancestor from over a billion years ago. This is why biologists can find some comparable genes in both species, even though one is a plant and the other an animal.
How much DNA is shared
When scientists compare only the parts of DNA that code for proteins, they find that a noticeable fraction of human genes have counterparts (orthologs or homologs) in the banana genome. Estimates vary with method, but a rough figure is that around a quarter of human protein‑coding genes have clear counterparts in bananas, which reflects those deeply conserved basic cell functions.
What “related” really means
Being “related” in this context does not mean humans are half banana; it means that many fundamental cellular processes, such as copying DNA or building basic cell structures, use similar genes inherited from that ancient common ancestor. Humans are still far more closely related to other animals like chimpanzees than to bananas, but the shared genes with plants show how all life on Earth is connected.