One thing to consider is that whole genome sequencing, as it exists now, has errors of up to 30% of the data. There was a paper in 2014 comparing the results of the same DNA in the two main competitors' machines, and the results didn't match a big percentage of the time. I don't recall the name of the paper or the author, or I'd link to it.
Another thing to consider is the possibility of putting one's DNA into a research database under a Creative Commons license, to be used by the public at large (mostly researchers). Anonymity would be attempted, but could not be guaranteed. The Personal Genome Project http://www.personalgenomes.org is looking for volunteers in many countries. Depending on the country, and the funding available, it may be a way to get the data without having to fund it all yourself.
As for what you can do with it...I think at the moment mostly what you can do is search for scientific articles on areas of interest to you. I think the data will become more useful over time.
Hi, I was considering possibility of undergoing some kind of genetic testing for a while now. But I hesitated because I have a quite limited financial resources available right now. Eventually I've figured that in the future I'd do it anyway, so why don't just do it right away. Especially taking into account that knowing some data available via such tests in an earlier stage of life and acting on it could be quite beneficial in a long run.
So after that realization I've thought about going with 23andme and performing SNP genotyping. But in the process of browsing related information I've encountered article about rapid decreasing in price for Whole genome sequencing. After that I've found this listing: https://www.scienceexchange.com/services/whole-genome-seq?page=2 and the lowest price tag there is $795 (but it's not clear whether that particular option is applicable to human genomes).
And as a result the whole WGS thing seems quite appealing, but I have some concerns here. I still have quite limited finance and WGS seems to have at least 10x prize in relation to SNP. And the other concern is data applicability (more on this one further).
Information about what and how you can do with WGS data is somewhat scarce on the Internet. So I have some questions here:
I know that for SNP tests there are tools like Promethease (http://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease) that allow you to analyze your data. But I was not able to find anything about tools for analyzing your WGS data.
So are there any good tools available for you to analyze your WGS data? And: Is it computationally feasible to get results in an adequate time, using a general pc for this purposes?
And finally with all above said: should I go for whole genome sequencing/SNP/or my whole line of reasoning is invalid and I should wait for now and get WGS in a few years for a smaller price?
(My main concern here is positive influence on health in a long run.)
Thanks.