23andMe Opportunity!

Carol and I have decided to start a 'quasi' Berry Family DNA Project at 23andMe and we have ordered our test kits.

The 'Opportunity' part of the title of this post is that I wrote 23andMe with what I had in mind and they sent me fifty (50) discount codes with which you all may also order the Full Edition test for a price that they've asked me not to publish.    I can say, though, that it is an amazing discount and well within what we're used to paying for DNA testing.    If you're at all interested, write me and I'll email you the price -- and if you decide that you want to join us I'll email you the discount code and instructions for purchasing.

For those of you who may not know, 23andMe reads 550,000 specially selected "tag SNPs" spread across your entire genome (picked because we can learn about the genotype at many SNPs at a time just by looking at one SNP that "tags" its group) plus tens of thousands of additional SNPs of particular interest hand-picked from the scientific literature.   

While the 23andMe test was not primarily intended for ancestry applications, we're hoping for something genealogical.    We may not find it   --     or we may.

They mention a new feature which will come out in October, Relative Finder.    They say this will calculate and predict the relationship between two people, distant relationships from 3rd to 10th cousins.

Ann Turner observes, " If this pans out, it means that projects (surname/geographical/ethnic) don't need to confine themselves to the straight paternal or maternal lines, but they can include people whose ancestry zigzags back and forth between males and females."

This may just be a chance for all you folks who have had to participate by finding someone to sponsor to participate directly yourselves.   

23andMe Special Ancestry Offer Details:

You will receive the 23andMe Full Edition, which includes all Ancestry features and 116 Health and Traits:

• Match yourself with other project members through mito, Y-(for men) and autosomal DNA
• Download your SNP data for extended ancestry research
• Kits must be ordered by 9/30/09 and saliva samples must be returned to the lab by 10/30/09