Convert DNA raw data from MyHeritage to 23andME

+4 votes
5.2k views
Hello, is there any tool available to convert dna raw data file format from Myheritage to 23andme (raw data format year 2019-2020).

Thank you
in The Tree House by
edited by Ellen Smith

3 Answers

+5 votes
 
Best answer

Xcode.life used to offer similar utilities, but I believe that went into abeyance when they began focusing on the sale of medical and wellness reports. Some Googling might turn up other options, including some for-fee options like, perhaps, DNAgedcom.

But it really isn't all that difficult to convert the results yourself. One important note here is that MyHeritage moved to a version of the GSA v2 chip as of last April, so step-by-step instructions really can't be provided because they'll differ with the format.

Both are just plain text files, though, and both still use the (now outdated, but it's still what our microarray tests use) human genome reference assembly 37, also referred to as hg19 under the U.C. Santa Cruz nomenclature. The caveat is that the naming of the tested SNPs--specifically the rsIDs, or "reference sequence IDs"--is not entirely consistent, even though the dbSNP database is supposed to be the arbiter.

If you want to dive in yourself, I'd recommend using something like MS Excel to open and sort the MyHeritage file by chromosome number as the first criterion, and secondarily by position, or locus.

Throw away anything that might show as being chromosome "0" and, unless you want to undertake some significant trial-and-error (create a file; try to upload it; fails; modify the file; try again), throw away anything that does not have a name beginning with "rs" as the first element of the row. You'll likely lose several hundred markers that way, but it should produce a clean file.

Here's an example from Roberta Estes of a 23andMe file format: https://dnaexplained.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/build-37.png.

The lines commented out at the top with an asterisk will still be evaluated by machine-reading sources. The first line and the one heading the actual data ("# rsid chromosome position genotype") in particular. As long you include those, it should work correctly.

The data is tab-delimited: each field in each record (row) separated by the "tab" character. Note that the actual nucleotide values are combined together under the "genotype" column; the letters aren't separated. Your MyHeritage data should be laid out the same way, but the headings are probably going to be "RSID CHROMOSOME POSITION RESULT." Change the headings to the 23andMe format, including the initial "#" and it should be good to go. There is no special indicator for the end of the data; it just ends with the last row.

Save it as a tab-delimited file in Excel (.csv), rename it to .txt, and compress it to a .zip file. The filename takes the form: genome_Firstname_Lastname_20192345678901.txt, zipped as genome_Firstname_Lastname_20192345678901.zip; change the Firstname and Lastname appropriately, and choose a random series of numerals after the "2019."

That should do it. Others have mentioned GEDmatch, and it's worthwhile noting that they now have, as an option under the Tier 1 subscription, the ability to combine results from multiple companies into a single "super-kit." If wanting genealogical comparisons, that's a good way to go. My kit there now has almost a million SNPs rather than any single kit's ~650,000, and the added density of SNPs improves matching. I know of others who have gone over the 1.2 million mark.

Have fun!

by Edison Williams G2G6 Pilot (439k points)
selected by Living Kelts
Thanks Edison for the guideline, it is helpful and explained the reason that I failed to convert Myheritage raw dna format to 23andme manually by editing the format only.

I am going to try using your guidance.

Thank you so much!
+3 votes
You would need to check with 23andme to see if they accept DNA data from other companies.
by Virginia Fields G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Hi Virginia Fields,

I am not trying to upload myheritage raw DNA to 23andme.

I am trying to upload to other DNA sites which accept 23andme format only.
What site are you trying to upload the Myheritage DNA data to?
I am sorry - I misunderstood your question. Like Tim Varney said, GedMatch would be a good choice and it is free unless you want to use some of the more advanced tools - and then it is only $10 a month and you would only need to pay for a month when you plan to use it a lot. Otherwise, it is all free.

I think FamilyTree DNA also accepts uploads from some of the other sites. There may be a small fee involved.

I have not encountered a third-party site that accepts DNA data for upload, and takes only 23andMe data. For example, Family Tree DNA says:

Transfer your AncestryDNA, 23andMe© or MyHeritage autosomal DNA data to FamilyTreeDNA and discover new matches for FREE.

And DNA.Land takes uploads from those three testing services plus Genes for Good.
I was trying to upload to Wegene. They accept 23andme / AncestryDNA only.
No worry Virginia Fields. I have used Gedmatch and it has many great tools but there are some data which are not make available there. I was trying to match asian ancestry which are available in Wegene and 23mofang.
Yes Ellen, I have uploaded to DNALand, but there are a detail analysis on Y and X chromosome in Wegene which provided a E11 data. I was trying to get the information out from myheritage, hopefully the information is extracted by Myheritage into the raw dna file. I have successfully upload my 23andme raw data to wegene which produce a report with E11 analysis, that allow me to find my subclade.
+6 votes

23andMe does not support the uploading of DNA data obtained from other services.
https://blog.23andme.com/news/how-to-be-careful-with-your-raw-dna-data/ (see editor's note)

However, you can export the DNA data from Myheritage and 23andme and then upload them both to GEDmatch.com for comparison.

by Tim Varney G2G6 (7.8k points)
Yes Tim. I was trying to help my friend who did their dna test in MyHeritage. I had done my test with 23andme, most of the DNA sites accept 23andme but not MyHeritage.

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