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Paragroup is a term used in population genetics to describe lineages within a haplogroup that are not defined by any additional unique markers.
In human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups, paragroups are typically represented by an asterisk (*) placed after the main haplogroup.[1]
The term "paragroup" is a portmanteau of the terms paraphyletic haplogroup indicating that paragroups form paraphyletic subclades.[1] Apart from the mutations that define the parent haplogroup, paragroups may not possess any additional unique markers. Alternatively paragroups may possess unique markers that have not been discovered. If a unique marker is discovered within a paragroup, the specific lineage is given a unique name and is moved out of the paragroup to form an independent subclade.
For example, the paragroup of human Y-DNA Haplogroup DE is DE*. A member of DE* has the marker that defines DE, but not the markers that define DE's only known immediate subclades, haplogroups D and E.[2] Likewise, haplogroup E1b1b1g (also known as E-M293) is an example of a relatively new subclade, discovered within a previously designated paragroup and assigned a new name. Until the SNP/UEP marker M293 was discovered in 2008, the members of the subclade were indistinguishable from other components of the paragroup E1b1b1* (also known as E3b* and E-M35*).[3]
Another example is a member of the Y-DNA haplogroup R (defined by marker M207) may belong to the sub-haplogroup R1 (defined by marker M173) or R2 (defined by marker M124). Individuals with neither of these mutations would be categorised as belonging to haplogroup R*.
Phylogenetic tree of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroups | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mitochondrial Eve (L) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L0 | L1–6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L1 | L2 | L3 | L4 | L5 | L6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
M | N | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CZ | D | E | G | Q | O | A | S | R | I | W | X | Y | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
C | Z | B | F | R0 | pre-JT | P | U | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
HV | JT | K | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
H | V | J | T |