AFDIL
Definition
Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. The US military's central identification laboratory, responsible for mtDNA-based identification of MIA remains from Vietnam, Korea, and World War II.
- Full form
- Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory
- Location
- Dover Air Force Base, Delaware
- Core method
- mtDNA-based identification
- Casework
- MIA remains from Vietnam, Korea, WWII
Common questions
Why does AFDIL rely on mitochondrial DNA rather than nuclear STR profiling for these cases?+
Skeletal remains recovered decades after death are often too degraded for reliable nuclear DNA typing, while the higher copy number of mitochondrial DNA per cell makes it more likely to survive and yield a usable profile.
What reference samples does AFDIL need to make an identification?+
It compares the recovered mtDNA sequence against a maternal-line relative's reference sample, since mitochondrial DNA passes unchanged down the maternal line, making a living relative's sample sufficient without needing a parent's remains.
Related terms
- EMPOP
- EMPOP mtDNA Population Database, maintained at the Institute of Legal Medicine, Innsbruck, Austria. Contains over 50,000 curated mtDNA sequences and uses phylogenetic...
- Heteroplasmy
- The co-existence of two or more mitochondrial DNA sequence variants within a single individual, arising from somatic mutation or incomplete segregation. Length...
- Hypervariable Region (HV1, HV2)
- Two segments within the mitochondrial D-loop that accumulate sequence variation faster than the coding mitochondrial genome. HV1 spans positions 16024-16365; HV2 spans...
- rCRS
- The revised Cambridge Reference Sequence (GenBank accession NC_012920), the standard reference for human mitochondrial DNA. All mtDNA variant positions in forensic and...
- RSRS
- Reconstructed Sapiens Reference Sequence (2012). A phylogenetically derived ancestral human mtDNA sequence used in academic population genetics but not in forensic casework...