Most usage of supercluster in population genetics

Population genetics

Population genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...

 research articles applies to proposed large groups of human mtDNA haplotype

Haplotype

A haplotype in genetics is a combination of alleles at adjacent locations on the chromosome that are transmitted together...

 lineage

Lineage (evolution)

An evolutionary lineage is a sequence of species, that form a line of descent, each new species the direct result of speciation from an immediate ancestral species. Lineages are subsets of the evolutionary tree of life. Lineages are often determined by the techniques of molecular systematics.-...

s, found by cluster analysis, that are thought to stem from a single distant most recent common ancestor

Most recent common ancestor

In genetics, the most recent common ancestor of any set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all organisms in the group are directly descended...

, on a time scale of tens of thousands of years.

Other usage

Usage of supercluster for geographically defined human populations instead of mtDNA strains is rarely seen. However, it does appear in the seminal Cavalli-Sforza paper
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=281893&blobtype=pdf Reconstruction of human evolution: bringing together genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data. (1988) to describe "Northeurasian" and "Southeast Asian" collections of sampled populations, which are also more frequently referred to in the paper as "major cluster" or simply "cluster".
Therefore use of "supercluster" as a euphemism

Euphemism

A euphemism is the substitution of a mild, inoffensive, relatively uncontroversial phrase for another more frank expression that might offend or otherwise suggest something unpleasant to the audience...

 for "race" might be considered a neologism or, more likely, an idiosyncratic usage according to the Google test.

Usage of supercluster for populations as well as haplotypes makes the term ambiguous and may require clarification when the word is used.

External links

Examples of usage to describe haplogroups, not races:

• http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Kivisild2000.pdf The sub-Saharan African mtDNAs belong largely to an mtDNA supercluster L
• http://evolutsioon.ut.ee/publications/Bermisheva2002.pdf More than 90% of European mtDNAs belong to nine haplogroups (Fig. 1), which are highly specific for Western Eurasia (4, 6). These clusters are all thought to originate from one supercluster, L3n (N).
• http://www.oxfordancestors.com/papers/mtDNA03%20PolymorphismsInIraq.pdf The main determinants of this PC analysis are therefore the HV supercluster members, haplogroups H, HV, and pre-HV. Actually, whereas in the European populations haplogroup H reaches its highest frequencies, HV and pre-HV mtDNAs (when present) have a very low incidence.
• http://www.intas.be/catalog/961-1766.htm We have denoted it as lineage M-I as it is obviously different from other members of M supercluster occurring in Siberia/Asia.
• http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maik/mbil/2003/00000037/00000004/00473216 A high frequency of mtDNA types belonging to Asian supercluster M was peculiar for Yakuts
• http://vetinarilord.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_vetinarilord_archive.html A high frequency of mtDNA types belonging to Asian supercluster M was peculiar for Yakuts