Can we trust them?
DNA test from 23andMe did not recognize identical twins
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
Biotech giant 23andMe allows anyone to get a brief DNA analysis that will tell about their ancestors or predisposition to a number of diseases. Clients are used to trust scientific methods – but perhaps a bit of skepticism will not hurt.
23andMe is one of the most successful startups in this field, earning hundreds of millions of dollars. Canadian journalist Charlsey Agro, the host of the Marketplace program on the CBC channel, questioned the company's working methods. And her twin sister Carly helped her in this. The girls sent their DNA samples to five companies: 23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and Living DNA.
The results were markedly different from each other – for example, FamilyTreeDNA, the only one of the five companies, attributed 14% of the twins' genome to Middle Eastern origin. This was expected, because each company uses its own methods, notes Tesgipsh.
However, the conclusions that 23andMe made turned out to be very strange. The company's methods did not recognize the Agro sisters as genetically identical twins at all.
Charlsey was credited with 10% fewer European ancestors than Carly. In addition, only she had Franco-German roots – 2.6% of the DNA. Also, 23andMe experts identified Karli's ancestors in Poland, but nothing like this was found in the results of Charlsi.
Specialists from Yale University, who were contacted by the sisters, confirmed that the DNA samples they sent were identical.
Answering the question about the strange results, the representative of 23andMe noted that the genealogical analysis of the company should be considered as a statistical assessment. Without comparison with the control group, the algorithm could mistakenly attribute slightly different origins to identical DNA sections. This affected the final result.
In addition, the company noted that the tests that are used to identify predisposition to various diseases are much more accurate.
Problems with the algorithm are not the only feature of 23andMe genealogical tests. As databases accumulate, the conclusions of the system may change, becoming more accurate. This is best noticed by customers of non-European origin. Initially, 23andMe was based on a database mainly consisting of white Americans and Europeans. However, now people with a different skin color can get more accurate information about their origin.
The Agro sisters experiment cannot be called scientific, but it shows well that it is not necessary to take the results of popular genetic tests too seriously. The companies that conduct them do not disclose their algorithms – therefore, it is impossible to understand how accurate they are.
Earlier, 23andMe announced that they would start using genetic tests to help people who want to lose weight. Lark Health startup will help the company in this.
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