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What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

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Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#21

Post by rflrob »

tibbon wrote: post #7

I'm glad I did it, and the results didn't freak me out/scare me or lead to any massive revelations. For the $100 I paid, it was worth it. For the $500 that they normally charge, I felt it was too much. The stuff about family origin/history was pretty boring for me and just confirmed that I'm as white/boring as they come. Both lines from Europe? You don't say... But for someone who doesn't know that they are 100% Euro…

> For the $500 that they normally charge, I felt it was too much.

Some time this year, they seem to have put their prices at $199, down from $499.

Personally, I'm waiting until whole-genome resequencing is down to about $300 from a commercial outlet. I don't anticipate this being the case in the next 5 years, at least, but it's not like my DNA will be changing any time soon.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#22

Post by endtime »

Maciek416 wrote: post #12
endtime wrote: post #3

I've done 23andMe as well. If anyone's curious I'm happy to answer questions. Without prompting, I don't have much to add other than that the relative finder doesn't seem to work quite as well as I'd hoped. I do have one distant cousin on 23andMe, and it did find her, but assigned higher confidence/probability/whatever to a few tens of people who mostly seem not to be cousins. This might not be their fault - I imagin…

I've had better luck with relative finder as well. My very first contact was able to trace his great-great-grandparents roots to a village that is only 30 minutes away or so from my Dad's ancestor's town. This person is marked as a 5th cousin, so I'd consider that pretty compelling. Regarding your "mostly seem not to be cousins" comment, I think people have an overly narrow definition of cousins where 23andme has a m…

Well, I can trace back 3-4 generations, at least in terms of surnames and maiden names, and none of the people I've talked to are even from the same parts of Europe or know of any relatives with the same last names (with one exception for Miller, which is a very common name). I've talked to several Ukrainians, one Portuguese, and one Argentinian - whereas my family is English, Dutch, German, Lithuanian, Polish, and Russian. As far as I know I didn't have any Ukrainian ancestors, at least not in the last few generations.

>I think people have an overly narrow definition of cousins where 23andme has a much more strict genetic definition.

Well, I consider someone to be a cousin based solely on our most recent common ancestor. If someone happens to have similar genes to me but we haven't shared an ancestor for 5,000 years then that person's not a cousin for any useful definition of the word.

It also might be that Asheknazi Jews, as a historically small/insular community with, therefore, a smaller gene pool, have a different experience with the relative finder than people with less, uh, incestuous (broadly speaking) family trees. Edit: Just logged into 23andMe and saw this relevant thread: https://www.23andme.com/you/community/thread/6449/. So I guess my speculation was right, and my concerns should be disregarded if you aren't part of a similarly small population.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#23

Post by acangiano »

khafra wrote: post #16
acangiano wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had better luck with my relative finder. I find out I was related to a few people and got in touch with them. One of these cousins is one of the most famous people in America, but I cannot disclose any other information as I respect their desire for privacy. Overall, the experience has provided me with plenty of infotainment. Well worth the $99 I paid.

I wonder if your famous relative regrets putting his genome on 23andMe.

Well, given that he/she discovered me as a cousin, I highly doubt that. :-P

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#25

Post by CWuestefeld »

tibbon wrote: post #7

I'm glad I did it, and the results didn't freak me out/scare me or lead to any massive revelations. For the $100 I paid, it was worth it. For the $500 that they normally charge, I felt it was too much. The stuff about family origin/history was pretty boring for me and just confirmed that I'm as white/boring as they come. Both lines from Europe? You don't say... But for someone who doesn't know that they are 100% Euro…

just confirmed that I'm as white/boring as they come

What's boring about being white? Sorry, but this attitude strikes me as being nonsense political correctness. I'm quite sure that whatever race or culture your ancestors come from, there's plenty to be interested in on a personal level at the very least.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#27

Post by nickpinkston »

Jun8 wrote: post #26

My big question is: does 23andMe get to keep the DNA data, what does the User Agreement say?

They give you the choice of either having them keep it - or throw it away. I had them keep it because they can then run further tests without needing my spit again.

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#28

Post by jokermatt999 »

JacobAldridge wrote: post #15

Combining two recent HN discussions here - this one, and one yesterday on the difficulty in getting insurance in the US ( http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2247560 ) What are the consequences (immediate, or further down the track), not so much of using a service like 23andMe (I imagine it will be a fairly standard part of medical testing in X generations) but of posting on your blog that you're (to paraphrase) 1.90…

I could be wrong here, but I believe that's covered under GINA.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_Information_Nondiscrimi...

Re: What's it like getting your DNA results back from 23andMe

#29

Post by bkrausz »

Well, my 23andMe results told me I was a Tay-Sachs carrier, and my parents already knew they both weren't, which brought up some interesting questions on both my past and future. Fortunately I'm more likely to assume tests are wrong than my parent's cheated, but it was the future thing I was more concerned with.

I later found out I was part of the 23andMe data mixup[1], so the results I had for a week actually weren't mine. Kind of killed my faith in the system, and when I got my actual results they were quite boring. At the very least it makes a good story, worth the $99 in my book.

[1] http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/Sample-swaps-at-23...

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