A number of digital music services have the personal touch nowadays, from Spotify’s Facebook sharing to Pandora’s make-your-own radio features. A new iPhone app called GeneGroove takes the idea of music personalisation much, much further though.

It’s all about generating music melodies based on the fabric of your being: your genome data. The app was released this week by a company called Portable Genomics, and taps into data from US genetic testing service 23andme.

How? “After uploading your 23andMe raw data onto your iPhone via iTunes, GeneGroove will analyze your genome informations and generate a unique identifier key,” explains GeneGroove’s App Store description.

“This key, called the GeNumber, will embed the uniqueness of your genome data while keeping your privacy safe, and will be used by GeneGroove to generate your music melody… It will be used in upcoming Portable Genomics applications to mix and remix music, manipulate sounds and share your art with your friends and family.”

The app includes a demonstration GeNumber to show how it works. A good thing, because if you want to get your actual genome data from 23andme, the company’s DNA Kit costs $99, plus a further $9-a-month subscription.

Obviously, you’d be getting that for more reasons than gene-based tuneage: 23andme is about getting an insight into your genetic makeup, from your ancestral origins through to figuring out potential health pitfalls in your future. Swerving killer diseases, rather than just making killer tunes, you could say.

GeneGroove has hired musician Omar Paraiso to provide the samples for its app, although it promises more artists from genres including classical, dance, jazz, R&B, rock and soul will be added to its databank in future updates.

Anyway, if you’re already a 23andme customer, GeneGroove is well worth a look, although the key to it being more than a novelty will be whether the resulting music is actually any good.