Gene Heritage Review Summary
Summary
Gene Heritage is an affordable and quick DNA upload company that provides customers with information on their alleles passed down through 1-3 generations. It does not predict genetic predispositions, health, or ancestry characteristics.
This review is written with the intent to be as unbiased as possible. However, it represents the opinion of an individual reviewer and is therefore subjective. Furthermore, at Nebula Genomics we seek to educate the public about the benefits of Whole Genome Sequencing. Information about our Whole Genome Sequencing DNA test is therefore incorporated into the review.
February 1, 2022
Table of contents
7 Facts from our Gene Heritage Review
- Location: New York, USA
- Products: Reports on genes and traits for individuals and in relation to family member
- Cost: $8 per family member
- Reports: Information about your family’s genes, traits, and ancient origins
- How it works: Customers upload their raw DNA data from any of the major testing companies. After payment, their report is usually ready within seconds
- Data upload: Yes
- Alternative Products: Nebula Genomics offers 30X Whole Genome Sequencing and access to 100% of a customer’s genetic data. This makes it an ideal sample to submit to DNA upload companies like Gene Heritage
Gene Heritage Introduction
Gene Heritage offers 100% online services and is based in New York, USA. It creates reports on inherited genes that influence common traits by analyzing raw genetic data. Customers obtain the raw data from third party testing companies like Nebula Genomics, FamilyTreeDNA, and other related testing companies.
The company technical director is E. Castedo Ellerman, a technical genetic expert that designed Genomology, an open-source software that carries out DNA analysis across three generations of a family. Joseph Silver is the creative director and lead head for Gene Heritage’s reports.
The Science Behind Gene Heritage
Gene Heritage takes DNA data produced by other companies and produces an individual report that focuses on certain genes and traits. The level of detail in the report will depend on the amount of coverage by the DNA collector.
Customers can also upload data from a parent, child, or grandparent. The algorithm also allows customers to see how genes were passed down from a parent to a child and which family members have the same allele pairs. These reports are not maternity or paternity tests.
Taking a Gene Heritage Test
Gene Heritage is a DNA upload site and does not offer genetic testing. Customers must sequence their DNA with a DNA test kit from another company and download the raw data when available. These tests are usually conducted by providing a saliva sample and sending it to the company lab to be sequenced. The company lists a number of major testing companies on its website, including 23andMe, Ancestry DNA, MyHeritage, and Living DNA.
Once you have your data, you will sign up with Gene Heritage and create an account. After that, pay the $8 and upload your data – the report is available within seconds. Reports are available to download. You can also share them with your family and friends using the share function.
Review of Gene Heritage Products
The gene report helps individuals discover the genes that a person inherited from their families and their shared traits and helps them know their origin. The report is affordable and provides different reports based on individual traits as well as comparison between parent-child and grandparent-grandchild.
Individual
This report simply considers an individual in terms of how passed down genes contribute to their traits and characteristics. Some of the traits in the report include:
- Eye color
- Earwax type
- Body odor
- Taste
- Smell
- Skin flush
- Lactose tolerance
- Strength and running endurance
- Melanin level
Parent-child
The parent-child report analysis considers the traits that a child receives from their parents and how much each parent contributes. The company again analyzes the traits and factors considered in the individual report, but this time in respect to the biological parents to help the child know who passes down the genes that give them their major features and characteristics.
Grandchild
This report goes back a generation further than the parent-child report and considers how much of an individual’s characteristics were determined by the genes from each grandparent.
Review of Gene Heritage Cost
The costs of the inherited traits and characteristic reports are only $8 per individual. However, it is essential to note that the raw data you need to access the report are not covered in the $8. This means that you will need to pay for a genetic test from a different testing company and upload the DNA file to your account.
Nebula Genomics is one of the DNA testing companies that gives you access to 100% of your genome for $299 or less.
Review of Gene Heritage Reports
Gene Heritage offers a comprehensive trait report on every gene tested. It is important to note that the Gene Heritage results are not of clinical importance or for diagnosing medical conditions, but solely for information purposes.
The company recognizes that traits results can be affected by both gene and environmental factors, and as such, it offers a score for every predicted trait to let a person know to what extent an inherited gene may lead to a trait change.
The predictability scores are:
- Highly predictable
- Fairly Predictable
- Barely Predictable
These scores help customers distinguish between genes that have major or minor influence on their characteristics.
Individual Report
A sample report on an individual named “Jean” is available on the company’s website. In this sample, the report is highlighting the gene OCA2, which is highly predictable in predicting lighter or darker eyes.
The result includes the allele types (light and dark), which alleles Jean inherited, and information on the origins of each allele. Global alleles are those that have been widespread globally for tens of thousands of years. In other instances, such as the light allele for eye color, they may be specific to a certain region.
Note that the DNA test results only provide Jean’s genotype, or the alleles that they inherited. They do not suggest a phenotype, or the physical characteristic that Jean actually has.
For each gene, the company also provides a “Did you know” section as well as a section on how the gene works.
Some of the genes provided in this report include:
Smell and Taste Sensitives: The company reads important genes and their importance to how it affects a person’s smell and sensitivity. The genes include TAS2R38, OR581, TAS1R3, TAS2R31, OR7D4, OR6B2, TAS1R1, OR2J3, and OR2M7. Results are often listed as sensitive alleles or insensitive alleles to each characteristic.
Physical Characteristics: The OCA2 gene region reports for eye color and skin color during the ABCC11 report for earwax and armpit odor.
Digestion and Metabolism: There are two gene origins analyzed in this area, and they are the LCT for testing Lactose intolerance and ALDH2 for testing skin redness after application of ethanol patch.Sports and Fitness: The ACTN3 gene may influence sprint performance.
Parent-child Report
If a parent or parents and a child upload their raw data, they can see an expanded report that shows which alleles were inherited from each parent.
In this case we see that Jean inherited a dark allele from her father and a light allele from her mother. As noted above, we don’t know if Jean actually has dark or light eyes – we only know their genetic profile. We also see that the dark allele is from global origins whereas the light allele is specifically a European trait.
As with the individual report, the results include an origins section and information on the gene and its inheritance patterns.
Grandchild Report
To get even more background on your alleles, you can access reports using grandparent, parent, and child DNA data. In this case, a similar allele map as the parent-child is created and includes all three generations.
In this case, we can see that Jean’s dad inherited a dark allele from his father, Jean’s Grandpa.
As with the individual report, the results include an origins section and information on the gene and its inheritance patterns.
Review of Gene Heritage Privacy
The company is based in New York and ascribed to the protection law of New York and the United states. When testing with Gene Heritage, you can be certain of full protection of your identity at all times. The company claims to never share your details with any unauthorized person or staff, so you can be assured that your data and results are only with the right authorities.
Other Gene Heritage Reviews
Gene Heritage was reviewed by Nicole Dyer on the Family Locket blog in 2018. She noted that the reports helped her understand complex traits and that it was a fun way to learn which traits she inherited from her family. In 2019, she added the grandchild report and also found it interesting.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting report on inherited traits and DNA
- Reports in terms of from specific generations
- Easy to upload raw data
- Affordable for customers who already have raw DNA data
Cons
- Dependent on DNA kits from other testing companies
- Results may be a bit complicated
- No health testing or ancestry information
- Not a tool for genetic genealogy, DNA matches, or family tree building
Nebula Genomics
Gene Heritage offers genetic allele tests for individuals and families to help them understand how certain characteristics have been passed down through generations.
However, Gene Heritage is focused on a person’s genes, inherited traits, and closely related information. This makes the reports limited in that other testing companies can include health and ancestry information, as well as quantitative assessments of genetic predispositions. Additionally, since the company does not offer their own tests, customers will need to pay full price to get their raw data from a different company.
Overall, Gene Heritage can be an affordable and interesting product, especially for those who already have DNA data from another company. Choosing where to get your raw data will be important to accessing other relevant genetic information.
Nebula Genomics offers 30x Whole-Genome Sequencing to provide full and accurate information on a person’s DNA.
This testing method sequences all 20,000 genes and regulatory regions to provide accurate results. It is available for $299 or less, making it incredibly affordable for comprehensive information.
Finally, Nebula Genomics performs ancestry reports, which can be used on customer demand for ancestry report-dependent firms like Gene Heritage.
| Gene Heritage | Nebula Genomics | |
| DNA testing method | None | Sequencing all 20,000 genes and regulatory regions |
| Ancestry reporting | None | Performs deep ancestry reporting with the complete Y chromosome and mtDNA sequencing |
| Upload options | Yes – $8 per individual | Yes – free |
| Report for making medical decisions | No | No, but data is of the highest quality and can be used by physicians and genetic counselors |
| Cost | $8/person | $0, $99, $299 |
Did you like our Gene Heritage review? You can read more reviews on our blog and check out our complete guide to the best DNA test kit and other home tests.
Other companies
You may also be interested in these other DNA upload sites:
Ancestry:
- Ancient DNA Origins (DNA upload for comparison against ancient civilizations)
- DNA Land (free DNA upload for trait and ancestry analysis)
- DNA Painter (for genealogy – the first one is free and subscriptions are available for others)
- GedMatch Genesis (free DNA upload and paid advanced options)
- Living DNA (free upload for ancestry)
- MyHeritage (free upload for genealogy)
- MyTrueAncestry (learn your connection to ancient populations)
- WeGene (a focus on Asian populations, cost of reports)
Health:
- BioStatus Health (upload apps for personalized fitness and nutrition)
- Dash Genomics (personalized Alzheimer’s disease risk)
- GeneFood (personalized nutrition report)
- Genetic Genie (free for health reporting)
- Genomapp (DNA analysis app and individual reports)
- LifeDNA (upload and health reports, DNA kit and updates available at an additional cost)
- LiveWello (variance reports and community sharing)
- NutraHacker (DNA upload for reports on certain health conditions)
- Silverberry Genomix (free upload and options to purchase additional reports)
- StrateGene (detailed reports based on biological pathways)
- TrueReport (personalized functional medicine)
- yourDNAportal (free expanded reports on health and ancestry)
If you have whole genome sequencing data, also take a look at YFull for Y-DNA and mtDNA analysis.
