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*.

References

^ ^a ^b The Y Chromosome Consortium, T. Y. C. (2002). "A Nomenclature System for the Tree of Human Y-Chromosomal Binary Haplogroups" (PDF). Genome Research. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 12 (2): 339–48. doi:10.1101/gr.217602. PMC 155271. PMID 11827954.
^ Weale, Michael E.; et al. (2003). "Rare Deep-Rooting Y Chromosome Lineages in Humans: Lessons for Phylogeography". Genetics. 165 (1): 229–34. doi:10.1093/genetics/165.1.229. PMC 1462739. PMID 14504230.
^ Henn, BM; et al. (2008). "Y-chromosomal evidence of a pastoralist migration through Tanzania to southern Africa". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. PNAS. 105 (31): 10693–8. Bibcode:2008PNAS..10510693H. doi:10.1073/pnas.0801184105. PMC 2504844. PMID 18678889.

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

Phylogenetic tree of human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups ^{[χ 1]}^{[χ 2]}

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2021)

"Y-chromosomal Adam"

A00

A0-T ^{[χ 3]}

A0

A1 ^{[χ 4]}

A1a

A1b

A1b1

BT

B

CT

DE

CF

D

E

C

F

F1

F2

F3

GHIJK

G

HIJK

IJK

H

IJ

K

I

J

LT ^{[χ 5]}

K2 ^{[χ 6]}

L

T

K2a ^{[χ 7]}

K2b ^{[χ 8]}

K2c

K2d

K2e ^{[χ 9]}

K-M2313 ^{[χ 10]}

K2b1 ^{[χ 11]}

P ^{[χ 12]}

NO1

S ^{[χ 13]}

M ^{[χ 14]}

P1

P2

N

O

Q

R

Footnotes

^ Van Oven M, Van Geystelen A, Kayser M, Decorte R, Larmuseau HD (2014). "Seeing the wood for the trees: a minimal reference phylogeny for the human Y chromosome". Human Mutation. 35 (2): 187–91. doi:10.1002/humu.22468. PMID 24166809. S2CID 23291764.
^ International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG; 2015), Y-DNA Haplogroup Tree 2015. (Access date: 1 February 2015.)
^ Haplogroup A0-T is also known as A-L1085 (and previously as A0'1'2'3'4).
^ Haplogroup A1 is also known as A1'2'3'4.
^ Haplogroup LT (L298/P326) is also known as Haplogroup K1.
^ Between 2002 and 2008, Haplogroup T-M184 was known as "Haplogroup K2". That name has since been re-assigned to K-M526, the sibling of Haplogroup LT.
^ Haplogroup K2a (M2308) and its primary subclade K-M2313 were separated from Haplogroup NO (F549) in 2016. (This followed the publication of: Poznik GD, Xue Y, Mendez FL, et al. (2016). "Punctuated bursts in human male demography inferred from 1,244 worldwide Y-chromosome sequences". Nature Genetics. 48 (6): 593–9. doi:10.1038/ng.3559. PMC 4884158. PMID 27111036. In the past, other haplogroups, including NO (M214) and K2e had also been identified with the name "K2a".
^ Haplogroup K2b (M1221/P331/PF5911) is also known as Haplogroup MPS.
^ Haplogroup K2e (K-M147) was previously known as "Haplogroup X" and "K2a" (but is a sibling subclade of the present K2a).
^ K-M2313*, which as yet has no phylogenetic name, has been documented in two living individuals, who have ethnic ties to India and South East Asia. In addition, K-Y28299, which appears to be a primary branch of K-M2313, has been found in three living individuals from India. See: Poznik op. cit.; YFull YTree v5.08, 2017, "K-M2335", and; PhyloTree, 2017, "Details of the Y-SNP markers included in the minimal Y tree" (Access date of these pages: 9 December 2017)
^ Haplogroup K2b1 (P397/P399) is also known as Haplogroup MS, but has a broader and more complex internal structure.
^ Haplogroup P (P295) is also klnown as K2b2.
^ Haplogroup S, as of 2017, is also known as K2b1a. (Previously the name Haplogroup S was assigned to K2b1a4.)
^ Haplogroup M, as of 2017, is also known as K2b1b. (Previously the name Haplogroup M was assigned to K2b1d.)