23andMe, is a new web-based service that helps you read and understand your DNA. After providing a saliva sample using an at-home kit, you can use the interactive tools to shed new light on your distant ancestors, your close family and yourself.
So how does the service work?
In order to get going you need to place your order for a kit, costing $999 and sign the online consent form.
Once you get your kit, you spit in the tube provided and using the pre-addressed shipping envelope you send your sample to their contracted laboratory.
After receiving your sample, lab professionals extract DNA from cells in your saliva. Your DNA is then chopped up into shorter strands and copied many times via a process called amplification.
Next, your DNA is washed over a small microchip-like device that contains short strands of synthetic DNA. The synthetic DNA fragments latch onto the pieces of your DNA that are a complementary match. Then a laser-scanning step reveals which strands of synthetic DNA are stuck to your DNA to determine your genotype.
The chip used in our process is the Illumina HumanHap550+ BeadChip, which reads more than 550,000 standard SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) plus a 23andMe custom-designed set that analyzes more than 30,000 additional SNPs.
What this means is that the laboratory process reads nearly 600,000 data points on your genome.
23andMe is a great project run by established professionals and we expect 23andMe to gain traction.
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