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Genes are going mobile. In September, consumer genomics company 23andMe announced it was opening its API, the program that allows other applications to interact with its data, for the first time. Since then, the Google-backed company has received more than 200 applications from developers.

23andMe is staying mum on the developers’ names, but said there was interest in integrating genetic data with electronic health records for studies at major research centers and in building consumer-health applications focused on diet, nutrition and sleep. Developers are also interested in making genetic dating sites and in combining genomics with personal data-tracking devices, like Fitbit and Zeo.

For consumers, 23andMe’s open API could work like “an operating system for your genome, a way that you can authorize what happens with your genome online,” said Mike Polcari, the company’s director of engineering.

The apps made possible through 23andMe’s API, especially those in the consumer-health realm, could usher genetics into the mobile age. They would allow people to access and share their genes and discuss their phenotypes — how they’re feeling, what they’re seeing, smelling and...