23andMe to offer Full Exome Sequence soon

Maciamo

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The exome is the part of the genome encoding proteins. In other words, it is one's full genome minus the so-called "junk DNA" (which may not necessarily be useless but that apparently does not encode anything).

The current 23andMe test now genotypes 1 million SNP's. The new Exome 80x will be sequencing all 50 million base pairs of the coding regions for 999$.

The main difference is that SNP genotyping merely compares one's DNA to a reference sequence, while sequencing may reveal new variants unobserved before. The latter is therefore more accurate.

This new test is almost as useful as a full genome sequence, which at the moment is only commercially available from the company Knome for 5,000 $ for orders of minimum 10 kits or 10,000 $ for a single test.

Orders of the new Exome80 test will be restricted to existing 23andMe for the time being.
 
Wow, amazing is the progress in genomics.

Here is an interesting article from Discover magazine about how people build bio labs in there homes.
Dawn of the BioHackers

Lacking space in her bedroom for a lab bench, she bought a vertical shelving unit and built her workstation straight up. Like Rienhoff, she needed a DNA thermocycler to do PCR. She managed to find one on eBay for $59. Her thermocycler is an antique model from the 1990s, but the machine’s age was not an issue. “You can do useful things with cast-off equipment,” Aull says. Encouraged, she went online for more, finding a $20 thermometer and $50 worth of terrarium parts she could assemble into an incubator to heat samples. Each of those units could have cost her thousands of dollars, had she purchased them new and at cost. Inventive in engineering, Aull built a centrifuge that was totally “home brew.” She rigged it from a plastic food container and a power drill. She went online to buy E. coli, DNA, plasmids (self-
replicating particles used to transport genes into foreign organisms), biochemical compounds, and restriction enzymes (proteins that serve as infinitesimal scissors to clip DNA in specific regions). Her total bill, including hardware store purchases, came to $500

Full article:
http://discovermagazine.com/2011/oct/21-dawn-of-the-biohackers
 
It's been 10 months since 23andMe announced that they would offer the Full Exome Sequence "soon", but nothing has happened yet. I also feel that the number of new reports has been slowing down this year. What is going on ?
 

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