Your DNA may be the wellspring of your somethingness, the essential condition of your existence and individuality, but what has it done for you lately? Here's how put your genetic data to work with DNA testing service 23andMe and a few third-party tools.
Why Should I Care About My DNA?
You are—and aren't—your DNA. Identical twins have (mostly) identical genomes but aren't literally the same person. External forces obviously play a big part in determining what we become. Nevertheless, it's fair to say that identical twins are very similar, often uncannily so, even when raised apart. And where does most of that similarity come from? Shared genetics! Where else?
But it's not just identical twins who share DNA. All humanity shares DNA. And while there may not be anyone out there who shares your entire genome—your complete set of biological blueprints—there are plenty of folks out there who share your genes. The basic idea, then, is that, by paying attention to what's going on with them as a result of their having those genes, you can get a sense of what might be going on with you too.
But Do I Really Want to Know This Stuff?
Maybe! A few things to keep in mind:
First of all, 23andMe is not a bewitched carnival fortune-telling machine. It isn't going to tell you how you're going to die or how old you'll be when it happens. Certain results can be distressing but, in most cases, they're not as dire as you might expect. You might learn that a certain natural genetic variation of yours means you have a 14% chance of developing dementia whereas the average person of the same ethnicity has only a 7% chance. Upsetting? You bet. A death sentence? Hardly. And, as they say, forewarned is forearmed: If you know you have an increased likelihood of developing a disease like Alzheimer's, you can make lifestyle changes that will help you lower your risk. You are and aren't your DNA. There's wiggle room. Use it to your advantage.
Secondly, there's more to 23andMe than disease risk factors. You'll also receive ancestry data, drug response predictions, and insight into your physical traits. If, for any reason, you decide you'd rather not know the health stuff, 23andMe will let you waive access to it in either full or part (omitting just Parkinson's and Alzheimer's results, for example). Similarly, if you'd rather not delve into your genealogy, the service lets you shut that off too.
How Much Does It Cost? And What About My Privacy?
As of this writing, 23andMe costs $159 dollars—that's $99 up front plus a mandatory one-year, $5/month subscription to the company's Personal Genome Service. If you'd rather not spend that much, 23andMe typically has fairly big sales in both April and December that you can take advantage of.
As far as your privacy goes, if you're not already a member of 23andMe, the first thing you should know is that, when it comes time to register your spit kit, you're under no obligation to use your real name. For all 23andMe knows, you're buying the kit for a friend. That's not to say that there's any particular reason to fear 23andMe's privacy policy or security practices (which, by our lights, are on the up-and-up). But, given the sensitive nature of the data, there's little harm in placing a buffer between your results and your identity.
What Sorts of Things Can I Do with My Data?
As mentioned earlier, with 23andMe, it's very easy to reduce the amount of data you receive. But what if, in typical Lifehacker reader fashion, you want more? Well, you're in luck!
There are about ten million places in your genome that make you who you are. These places are called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs ("snips"). Of those ten million SNPs, 23andMe sequences approximately one million. And while that might seem like a small number, 23andMe only uses a tiny subset of these in generating your personal report. In most cases, that's because there isn't a lot of solid information yet about what, if anything, all those SNPs are up to. But new information becomes available all the time. That's why 23andMe sells a monthly subscription service. When new information becomes available, 23andMe vets it internally and then, if approved, adds layperson-understandable explanations of the findings to your report. The trouble is that the process can be kind of slow.
Fortunately, 23andMe also gives you access to your raw data. Which means you're free to bring your data to the latest studies instead of waiting for the latest studies to come to you.
23andMe Labs
Before taking your data beyond the comfortable confines of the 23andMe website, you might want to check out 23andMe Labs, the place where the company puts the tools it deems too experimental or too niche for a general audience. Our favorite labs tool is the Ancestry Finder, which you'll find in Ancestry Labs under My Ancestry in the main navigation menu. It's a little like 23andMe's Global Similarity tool but, instead of learning what global populations are most genetically similar to you, you'll be presented with a list of specific countries in which your recent ancestors are likely to have lived.
Promethease and SNPedia
Perhaps the best third-party resource for 23andMe users is SNPedia, a wiki that collects and catalogs SNP data. Generally speaking, it operates a lot like 23andMe: SNPedia users keep up with science news and add new, interesting findings to the site's database. Because it's a wiki, however, the site is good at ingesting new information really quickly, which means it's generally more up to date than 23andMe's own reports. Obviously, though, manually cross-referencing your against SNPedia's database would be a big chore.
That's where Promethease (Windows/Mac) comes in. Point Promethease to the text file containing your raw 23andMe data and it'll generate a 23andMe-style report using the latest information available on SNPedia. Though freeware, you'll be presented with the option of buying a report for a $2 fee. Pay reports have a number of advantages over freely-generated ones. For one, they take a lot less time to cook: Whereas a free report can take something like three hours, a pay report generally takes about 5 minutes. Depending on how patient you are, that may be reason enough. There are other incentives too. If you have access to someone else's raw data—your partner's, say—, with a paid report, Promethease will allow you to compare genomes and provide you with information about your potential offspring. Of course, that sort of thing may or may not appeal to you. And, again, the free reports are quite serviceable.
If you'd like to learn more about 23andMe or personal genomics, you'll find plenty of information on the official 23andMe website. Likewise, if you're interested in discovering additional third-party tools and resources that can be used in conjunction with 23andMe, we recommend 23andMe user community site 23andYou. Have your own thoughts on 23andMe or genetic testing in general? Let's hear them below!