There are a variety of online 23andMe raw data tools for interpretation that allow people to upload their raw data to get back different kinds of reports. You can broadly classify these tools into “tools for experts” and “tools for everyone”.
A study on consumer usage of third party raw data analysis tools was published in November 2017 in the journal Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine that using feedback from social media platforms like Twitter and Reddit. According to the results of the study, only 34% of the participants were “very satisfied” with the results provided by third-party raw data analysis service providers. However, 47% of the participants reported that, though they knew the information in the reports were valuable they needed more help in interpreting this information better.
According to Sarah Nelson, the author of another study on 23andme raw data tools and their methods:
In conducting interviews with tool developers, I came to realize something quite remarkable: many (roughly half of those I interviewed) don’t think they are interpreting genetic data at all. Rather, they view the tool as simply linking users’ genetic data to relevant scientific publications or genetic annotation databases, acting as what one developer called a “bridge the literature.” It became clear that developers view these bridging or linking activities as distinct from interpretation, the latter involving further personalizing or packaging the information for the user.
The complete study including details of the methodology can be found here.
23andme raw data tools like Promethease links available literature to the rsIDs that are found in the raw data of the user. Genetic Genie, another 23andme raw data tools, lists down the rsIDs and “+/-”, “-/-” or “+/+” to indicate one mutated, no mutations, or both mutated alleles respectively. But what does this mean to someone who is looking to make dietary or lifestyle changes based on the genetic report? Given that genetic testing is an upcoming field with many myths and misconceptions, it is an uphill task to get consumers to understand the benefits of knowing more about your genetics.
Good news is that there are already tools that cater to both the common folks and the geeks. Here is a list of 3rd party tools that perform raw data analysis to give different types of reports.
I. 23andme raw data tools for Ancestry Re-analysis
A) DNA.Land
DNA.Land is a not-for-profit community website run by academics affiliated with Columbia University and the New York Genome Center. The site offers a biogeographical analysis, imputation and a relative-matching feature.
- Type of reports: Ancestry
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Genotype files
B) Wegene.com
Wegene provides an ancestry re-analysis of 23andMe results.
- Type of reports: Mainly for East Asian Ancestry
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Genotype files
C) Gedmatch
- Type of reports: Ancestry, Family matches
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: Except Genesys, other projects do not support 23andme v5
- File type: Genotype files
D) Gene Heritage
A service using raw DNA data to compile reports about how genes influence traits. Traits covered include eye color, earwax type, armpit odor, lactose intolerance, Asian Flush, and taste and smell sensitivity. Identifies the ancient origins of genes; reports on whether certain alleles originate in Europe, Asia, Eurasia, or Africa. Users can see how genes have been passed down from parents to a child.
- Type of reports: Inherited traits like eye color, ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) that influences your bitter taste perception etc and Ancestry
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Genotype files
II. 23andme raw data tools for Health and Lifestyle
A) Xcode Life
Xcode Life Xcode produces thoroughly curated, easy to understand genetic reports that can be used by professional practitioners as well as individuals. They can re-analyze data from 23andme, AncestryDNA, FTDNA, MyHeritage, Living DNA, Vitagene, Dante Labs among several other companies.
- Type of reports: Nutrition, Fitness, Health, Allergy, Skin, Carrier Status, Breast Cancer and BRCA, Precision Medicine, Methylation and MTHFR, Ancestry, Personality and other custom reports.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: all chip versions
- File type: Genotype files and Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) files
B) DNAFit
DNA Fit is a company which accepts raw data from 23andMe for $50 for mainly nutrition and fitness reports.
- Type of reports: Nutrition and Fitness
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Genotype files
C) Livewello
Livewello Provides health and trait reports using raw data from 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and FTDNA for physicians and advanced users. Twenty traits are provided with the Livewello Gene App. A subscription is required to access the manually curated health reports. The website also offers free health record managers and data charting applications.
- Type of reports: Nutrition and health reports
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Genotype files
D) Vitagene
Vitagene Is a genetic testing company that does raw data analysis for nutrition, fitness and nutrient supplements. These are bundled into their health package. However, they do not have a dedicated health report that covers disease predispositions.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA and MyHeritage DNA
- Supported chip versions: Unpublished
- File type: Genotype files
E) Anabolic genes
Anabolic genes Anabolic genes is an online third-party raw data analysis tool for mainly nutrition and fitness reports. They were previously only accepting biological samples. They have now tied up with Genetic Concept for raw data analysis of only 23andme raw data.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme
- Supported 23andme chip versions: unpublished
- File type: Genotype files
F) Athletigen
Athletigen Is tool that is limited to sports-related reports which include nutrition and fitness
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme and Ancestry DNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: unpublished
- File type: Genotype files
G) Nutrahacker
Nutrahacker focuses on reports related to vitamin supplement information
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme and Ancestry DNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: unpublished
- File type: Genotype files
F) Genetic Genie
Genetic Genie It is an online tool that uses your raw data from 23andme. It returns a report with a list of genes related to the methylation and detox pathways, the rsIDs and the status of the allele as given in the 23andme raw data file.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme
- Supported 23andme chip versions: all versions till v4
- File type: Genotype files
G) Strategene
Strategene is an online tool that analyses your raw data to give information on 20 genes, which the website refers to as “core SNPs”. For information on more genes which are referred to as “Bonus SNPs,” you need to pay extra. This will add information on 10 additional SNPs.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme
- Supported 23andme chip version: Does not support the new v5 chip
- File type: Genotype files
H) GeneKnot
GeneKnot A site which allows the user to upload genome data and compare DNA with other people with similar disease risks.
- Type of reports: Health
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Genotype files
I) Promethease
Promethease Accepts data from any genetic genealogy company and will generate health and trait reports based on current literature.
- Reports: Health
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: all versions
- File type: Genotype files
J) Codegen
Codegen A free comprehensive health report using 23andMe raw data.
- Type of reports: Nutrition, Fitness and Health
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA, My Heritage
- Supported 23andme chip versions: unpublished
- Accepted file type: Genotype files
III. Other fun stuff to do using 23andme raw data tools
A) Genetic Dating Sites
The ‘DNA Romance’ service analyzes your DNA to forecast the level of chemical attraction between you and other members, to help you find your perfect partner.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA, My Heritage
- Supported 23andme chip versions:
- File type: Genotype files
B) Wine Tasting
Vinome analyzes your DNA and taste preferences, then matches you with wines selected for your unique palate. They also have an online store for wines bottles that suit your taste.
3) Merchandise
Helix has an online store for some interesting merchandise like scarves, tote bags, and tartans. The patterns are formed by assigning one color for each nucleotide (A, T, G, C). You can even choose the color that you want to be assigned to each base.
DNA Geek offers interesting products like Haplotees, gears, and mugs. You can get your haplogroup printed on them and flaunt your origins.[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Other 23andme raw data tools
” font_container=”tag:h2|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]These are tools that cannot be used unless you have a definite background knowledge in genetics and statistics.
A) David Pike’s Tools
David Pike’s Tools started off as a personal experiment or analysis of autosomal raw data results from companies like 23andme. It was then made available publicly for anyone to do their own personal analysis of their autosomal raw data.
What are the utilities?:
- Search for Runs of Homozygosity (ROH)
- Search for Heterozygous Sequences
- Search for Shared DNA Segments in Two Raw Data Files
- Inspect a Shared DNA Segment in Two Raw Data Files
- Inspect Shared DNA Segments in a Trio of Raw Data Files
- Search for Discordant SNPs in Parent-Child Raw Data Files
- Search for Discordant SNPs when given data for child and both parents
- Search for Differently Reported SNPs
- Phase a Child when given data for child and both parents
- Phase Siblings with Data from Both Parents
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v1, v2, v3, v4
- Type of files: Genotype files
B) Golden Helix Genome Browser
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: genotyping
C) Imputeme
Imputeme is a service that imputes 23andme/Ancestry DNA/MyHeritage data to provide extra SNPs as well as multi-SNP risk-signatures for all common disease traits, and extra rare-mutation investigations.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA, My Heritage
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: genotyping
D) Infinome
Infinome is an online tool that enables you to look up each of the SNPs in your 23andme or Ancestry DNA raw data and check the associated risk that the SNP confers for a particular disease.
Type of reports:
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: genotyping
E) Interpretome
Interpretome is a set of online tools from Stanford University for analyzing your personal genomic data.
What are the utilities?:
- Merge raw data files from different DNA testing companies
- Compute centiMorgans of shared DNA between individuals using HapMap table
- Plot shared DNA between individuals, determine genes shared between individuals
- Find discordant SNPs between child and parent(s)
- Remapping SNPs between assemblies/builds like converting SNPs from build 36 to build 37, etc.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA, My Heritage
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v1, v2, v3
- File type: Genotype files
F) OpenSNP
OpenSNP allows customers of direct-to-consumer genetic tests to publish their test results, find others with similar genetic variations, learn more about their results, find the latest primary literature on their variations and help scientists to find new associations.
- Type of reports: Ancestry
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v1,v2, v3
- File type: Genotype files
G) Oxford Statistics Phasing Server
Oxford Statistics Phasing Server is a free utility to phase whole genomes based on VCF files
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA, FTDNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v2
- File type: Whole genome sequencing VCF files
H) Reich Lab Software
Reich Lab software comprises of a range of tools available from the Reich Lab. These programmes are likely to be of interest to advanced users.
- Raw data accepted from: 23andme, Ancestry DNA
- Supported 23andme chip versions: v1, v2, v3
- File type: unpublished
