Genetic testing?

[anbuitachi]

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Anyone done any genetic tests for themselves like 23andMe or others? Anyone got any good recommendations? 23andMe seems lacking . . .

 

[Theralist]

23andme is cool, but it didn't tell me as much as I thought it would. It basically tells you if you have an increase or decrease in having certain multifactorial diseases (e.g. certain types of cancer) based on what SNPs you have at certain loci. It can also tell you certain heritable diseases (e.g. sickle-cell), but since it is only looking at usually a given SNP, it isn't really telling you everything. For example, you could have the "normal" SNP at the most common loci for the sickle-cell gene, but have a damaging SNP at a less tested loci and thus pass on the gene to your offspring. I still liked knowing if I did or didn't have certain deleterious variants in my genome. If you are a male, you can determine both maternal and paternal ancestry (based on mt DNA and the non-recombining parts of the Y-chromosome, respectively). If you are a female, you can only determine your maternal ancestry. I would say it is overall worth getting. I learned some cool stuff about myself (I didn't know my blood type before 23andme) and it was only $99.

 

[Anastomoses]

I am actually very curious about doing this also. But learning my blood type isn't really a good deal. We did that in lab in 10 minutes. And I already know my blood group anyhow. I'm both interested in the medical information and the heritage/racial information. How detailed is that?

And are there others which offer more comprehensive information?