23andMe cuts cost to $399! UPDATED...cut to $99

[ECO]

Just caught this on GenomeWeb and AP. Looks like getting your whole family genotyped just got a whole lot more affordable.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ipbUmTKmicQ5LdPpdoX67PYx7FqAD932VHIO0

[dp05yk]

I've been looking into 23andMe and I'm confused as to what they're actually offering. As a computer science student I'm not 100% on all the biology yet and it seems absurd that they're actually (re)sequencing your entire genome for $400. Is the state of sequencing technology such that $400 is a fair price, or is it not exactly what I'm thinking it is?

[ECO]

They aren't resequencing...you basically get the results of a 500k SNP genotyping chip, but their value is the annotation and continued research into variants and health implications.

They actually just cut the price to $99...but you have to subscribe to a $5/month.

I appreciate their desire to reduce the entry costs, but I don't really like the subscription model, will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Looks like I'll be genotyping my whole family soon. Anyone know if you can download your entire dataset with the new pricing model?

[bioinfosm]

thats cool Eco!

I would assume the data should be downloadable, but never tried first hand..

[westerman]

They actually just cut the price to $99...but you have to subscribe to a $5/month.

I appreciate their desire to reduce the entry costs, but I don't really like the subscription model, will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Only a 1 year subscription is required. So you could consider the total cost to be $160. Quite affordable compared to the normal price of $500. The price cut is suppose to be only good through Dec. 25th but, like all sales, it portends a general price cut in the future.

Looks like I'll be genotyping my whole family soon.

It is tempting. It is so hard to buy presents for my parents, sisters and brother. I bet this is one present that they haven't purchased for themselves!

[Joann]

That would be such a cool gift. Archive everybody's sequences and update the family tree every other year or so around the holidays.

[KerryOdair]

With this new pricing a new version 3 chip is being used for testing. The Version 2 chip had about 500k snp's. The new Version 3 has 1 Million snp's on the chip approximately. Some of these new snps are geared to medical identification. This new pricing includes both the ancestry as well as medical editions for the consumer. There are other testing alternatives as well in the market place. There is more information on this type of testing at the the following link:

http://isogg.org/wiki/23andMe_project

[KerryOdair]

They aren't resequencing...you basically get the results of a 500k SNP genotyping chip, but their value is the annotation and continued research into variants and health implications.

They actually just cut the price to $99...but you have to subscribe to a $5/month.

I appreciate their desire to reduce the entry costs, but I don't really like the subscription model, will be interesting to see how it pans out.

Looks like I'll be genotyping my whole family soon. Anyone know if you can download your entire dataset with the new pricing model?

I have loaded all my data down from the Version 2 chip set. I have not heard or read anything that would indicate that you cannot download your results file of the snp's tested with this new version 3 chip and pricing. Below is the link for most frequently asked questions.

https://www.23andme.com/help/

[KerryOdair]

I've been looking into 23andMe and I'm confused as to what they're actually offering. As a computer science student I'm not 100% on all the biology yet and it seems absurd that they're actually (re)sequencing your entire genome for $400. Is the state of sequencing technology such that $400 is a fair price, or is it not exactly what I'm thinking it is?

23andMe is not sequencing your DNA. They are testing SNP's on chip technology. These are known and identified SNP's that they test your DNA against. Some of the SNP's on the chip test for the X and Y chromosome. So your haplogroups at some level can be identified for both your maternal and paternal ancestry. The other SNP's on the other chromosomes test for autosomal results. Below is a good link with a glossary of terms.

http://www.familytreedna.com/glossary.html

[KerryOdair]

That would be such a cool gift. Archive everybody's sequences and update the family tree every other year or so around the holidays.

Hello Joann,

Last year as a holiday gift I had my mother tested by 23andme. Since my father is no longer alive to sample, I am able to compare my results to my mothers results to see what snp's are coming from my father's DNA. I was able to confirm that the 4% Asian in my DNA score comes from my fathers side of the family. This confirmed my paper genealogy to my 23andme results and my native south american ancestor on my fathers side. This is one way this testing can be used. Diekenes Blog spot on population analysis is also another interesting aspect of this testing. Link below:

http://dodecad.blogspot.com/

[KerryOdair]

Version 2 vs Version 3 chip set snps

Customers can expect to have the following approximate numbers of SNPs for their genotyping platform:

V2 only: 576,000 SNPs

V3 only: 967,000 SNPs

V2 + V3 (upgraded): 996,000 SNPs

http://spittoon.23andme.com/2011/01/27/upgrading-to-the-new-chip-what-to-expect/

We have new information pertaining to your previous inquiry. Our v3 platform includes 3066 SNPs on the Y chromosome and 2736 mitochondiral [sic] SNPs. Our v2 platform included 1752 SNPs on the Y chromosome and 1998 mitochondiral [sic] SNPs. The complete list is not yet available.

Best Regards,
The 23andMe Team

[KevinLam]

It is tempting. It is so hard to buy presents for my parents, sisters and brother. I bet this is one present that they haven't purchased for themselves!

haha if I did that I think that would be one of the less appreciated present for them hmmmm

[KerryOdair]

Best $200 I every spent getting both my results and my mothers results. When I first got my results I never put much stock in the 5cm segments thinking that they were to small to be of any great consequence or to small to take any stock in the results. When I compared my mothers results at 5cm to my list at 5cm, removing the common countries gave me the list of these remaining countries from my list. These being a fairly good probability of coming from my fathers side.

Those countries were:
Palestinian
Greece
Albania
Syria
Morocco

Four others were:
Mexico
Bolivia
Belgium
Phillippines

The first group has both a geographical significance along with a historical connection.

The second group of Mexico, Bolivia and the Phillippines are most likely coming from my great great grandmother on my fathers side native to Mexico. The Belgium segment could be a wandering relative or an anomaly.

This first group makes me think of some cohort connection in the Roman army or someone coming up from Morocco into Iberia then to the British Isles. This certainly reinforces some of best case guess on my older origins.

[dan]

How many people here went for this deal? We should do something fun with the data!

I downloaded my data and stuck it here: https://github.com/dbolser/genotyping_23andme

I put an idea for a wiki based 'genome game' here:

http://gmod.org/wiki/GSoC#IDEA_10:_The_genome_game:_crowd-sourcing_better_crops

http://gmod.org/wiki/GSoC/IDEA_10

Could be fun! ;-)

[nilshomer]

See my data and screenshots: http://nilshomer.com/index.php?title=My_Genetic_Data