Genelach Dáil Cuinn Project™ Forum

Has anyone tried, or know of anyone who has tried the Nebula Genomics 30X WGS test? Any feedback on their service would be greatly appreciated.

David,

Sorry I didn't get back to your email inquiring about this.

I became keenly interested in Nebula when they announced that their will be access to port the data into FTDNA's database. I currently have no experience using them and wasn't planning on it until this feature definitively goes live (which it has not I believe). Given the cost of the test + 1 month subscription I think it would offer quite a bit of data. The only download would be lack of Y111 STRs which I do find useful in densely tested groups (such as Group 1 Dohertys) on pulling men apart further after the SNP testing.

I do hope to try them some day when the porting feature to FTDNA database happens.

Zack
Volunteer Administrator of the Doherty Surname Project

Zack,

Thanks for the info!

FYI, Nebula Genomics and FTDNA share a common mailing address: 1445 N. Loop W., Ste. 820, Houston, Texas 77008.

Also:

Yes, we are sequencing in Hong Kong. We plan to use other locations in the future but I cannot share a timeline at this point.

I personally have a problem having my DNA sequenced by BGI, so until that changes, they are a no go for me. But once they address that issue, this looks to be the best testing plan to get the most complete coverage of the Y chromosome for the cheapest year-round price:

1. Nebula Genomics 30X WGS test: US$299.
2. Nebula Genomics Exploration Subscription, 1 month: US$19.99. (Required in order to receive the US$299 pricing.)
   Download for free all your Nebula raw data files, which will include the Y Chomosome FASTQ, BAM, VCF, and BED files.
3. YSEQ FASTQ to hg38 Conversion: US$25. (The easiest way to transfer the large FASTQ file is to give YSEQ temporary access to your Nebula account and let them do the download directly to their server. Change your credentials after YSEQ has the Y Chomosome FASTQ file. YSEQ will call all new variants AND give them "A" names AND add them to YBrowse for you, all included. They provide the BAM, VCF, and BED files. Although this is a duplication of what Nebula does, I trust YSEQ's conversion and analysis over Nebula's.)
4. Upload at least the VCF and BED files to the Y-DNA Data Warehouse for inclusion on The Big Tree. Probably the BAM file too. It is taking several weeks now to get processed on The Big Tree, which is duplicating the analysis that YSEQ does. But each company / analyst makes slightly different calls on SNPs.
5. Optionally transfer your Nebula data to FTDNA. IDK what the fee is for that. You would need to contact FTDNA.
6. Optionally purchase the YFull analysis service for US$49. Again, this will duplicate the other companies's efforts, but again, you will probably see slightly different results. I would skip this step, myself.

My father's BGI WGS came out excellent (far superior in my views to my Big Y 700). Each to their own though. I know that there is a lot of conspiracy theories that places like Dante Labs are subsidized by Chinese government and that they will use our WGS results to construct target biogenic weapons (yes, I've heard this theory from a couple people that are sadly administrators of R1b project). As a PhD in Biology I can tell you that customizing a biogenic weapon in such a theory targeting only certain subsets of populations is pretty much impossible. We'd be more apt to cure cancer before such a thing can happen. We can't even construct medications that don't have a number of side effects because of the complex physiology involved at the molecular level (I recommend an excellent audiobook on this by the way - https://www.amazon.com/Lifes-Ratchet-Mo ... 0465022537).

Zack,

Thanks! My objection to BGI is on political grounds, not conspiracy theories. Having lived and worked in the PRC, I can categorically say that the Chinese people are wonderful, the government is horrible. As such, I don't want to help the PRC government financially in any way. At least part of the income of any Chinese company goes to the government, and that is my objection. And yes, with so many Chinese produced products saturating the USA economy, it is difficult, but you do the best you can.

But, Nebula had already announced using USA based sequencing labs, so hopefully that will happen this year, although their reply was not too optimistic. What I did find curious was the shared address between Nebula and FTDNA. That indicates to me closer corporate ties than what has been released publicly so far. Because of that tie, I am concerned about Nebula's SNP calling, because we all know FTDNA is WAY too stringent in their calls; and I would be concerned that might somehow feedback into Nebula's SNP calling methodology. But as I said, sending the FASTQ data to YSEQ eliminates that issue.

You had raised the concern about not having Y-STR111 results for fine grain sorting granularity within terminal clades from a 30X WGS test. I am not sure, but YSEQ MAY have a service that extracts that info from the FASTQ files as well. Worth looking into.

As always, your input is much appreciated.