Haplogroup M-P256

Haplogroup M, AKA M-P256 and Haplogroup K2b1b is a Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. M-P256 is a descendant haplogroup of Haplogroup K2b1, and is believed to have first appeared between 32,000 and 47,000 years ago.
M-P256 is the most frequently occurring Y-chromosome haplogroup in West Papua and western Papua New Guinea. In addition, M-P256 is also found in neighboring parts of Melanesia, Indonesia and indigenous Australians.

Phylogenetic structure

This phylogenetic tree of haplogroup subclades is based primarily on the trees published by YCC in 2008 and ISOGG in 2016.M*

* M1
** M1a
*** M1a1
*** M1a2
** M1b
*** M1b1
**** M1b1a
**** M1b1b
* M2
** M2a
* '''M3'''

Distribution

M* (M-P256*)

The paragroup M-P256* is found at a low frequency in New Guinea and Flores.

M1 (M-M4)

This group is found frequently in New Guinea and Melanesia, with a moderate distribution in neighboring parts of Indonesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Una 100%
Ketengban 100%
Awyu 100%
Citak 86%
Asmat 75%
West Papua
*Lowlands/coast 77.5%
*Highlands 74.5%
Kombai/Korowai 46%
Papua New Guinea
* Coast 29%
* Highlands 35.5%
Tolai 31%
Trobriand Islands 30%
Maluku 21%
Torres Strait Islanders : up to 2.0% – i.e. 0.9% of samples, when 45% of the total were deemed to be "non-indigenous"

An extreme geographical outlier was apparently identified in a 2012 study, which reported a Hazara individual from Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan, with M1. The Hazara individual carried the SNP M186.

Old names	M-M4
Jobling and Tyler-Smith 2000	24
Underhill 2000	VIII
Hammer 2001	1U
Karafet 2001	37
Semino 2000	Eu16
Su 1999	H17
Capelli 2001	E
YCC 2002	M*
YCC 2005	M
YCC 2008	M1
YCC 2010r	M1

M1a (M-P34)

M1a is the most frequently occurring Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup in Western New Guinea. It is also found with moderate frequency in neighboring parts of Indonesia and throughout Papua New Guinea, including offshore islands.

Old names	M-P34
Jobling and Tyler-Smith 2000	24
Underhill 2000	VIII
Hammer 2001	1U
Karafet 2001	37
Semino 2000	Eu16
Su 1999	H17
Capelli 2001	E
YCC 2002	M1
YCC 2005	M1
YCC 2008	M1a
YCC 2010r	M1a

M1b (M-P87)

M1b M-P87 has been found in approximately 18% of a pool of samples from New Ireland, approximately 12% of a sample of Lavongai from New Hanover, approximately 5% of a pool of samples from New Britain, in addition to one Saposa individual from northern Bougainville, and another individual from the north coast of Papua New Guinea.
The subclade M1b1 is found frequently in populations of the Bismarck Archipelago and Bougainville Island, with a moderate distribution in New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, East Futuna, and Samoa.

Old names	M-P22
Jobling and Tyler-Smith 2000	24
Underhill 2000	VIII
Hammer 2001	1U
Karafet 2001	38
Semino 2000	Eu16
Su 1999	H17
Capelli 2001	E
YCC 2002	M2*
YCC 2005	M2a
YCC 2008	M1b1
YCC 2010r	M1b1

M2 (M-M353)

M2 is found at a low frequency in Fiji and East Futuna.
The subclade M2a has been found in one Nasioi individual from the eastern coast of Bougainville and in one individual from Malaita Province of the Solomon Islands.
Alternative names previously used within peer-reviewed literature for the M2a subclade are listed below.

Old names	K-SRY9138/M-SRY9138 AKA M-M177
Jobling and Tyler-Smith 2000	23
Underhill 2000	VIII
Hammer 2001	1E
Karafet 2001	25
Semino 2000	Eu16
Su 1999	H5
Capelli 2001	F
YCC 2002	K1
YCC 2005	K1
YCC 2008	M2a
YCC 2010r	M2a

M3 (M-P117)

M3 is found frequently in populations of New Britain, and is also observed occasionally in northern Bougainville, Fiji, and East Futuna.

Previous phylogenetic history

Prior to 2002, at least seven different naming systems for the Y chromosome phylogenetic tree were used within academic literature, leading to considerable confusion. To resolve this, in 2002, major research groups collaborated to form the Y-Chromosome Consortium. This resulted in a joint paper publication that contained a single new tree as a standard to use by the scientific community. Later, another group of scientists with an interest in population genetics and genetic genealogy worked to continually improve the naming system.
The table below brings together the nomenclature used in Haplogroup M studies, prior to the landmark 2002 YCC Tree, enabling researchers reviewing older literature to quickly convert between the different nomenclatures that were in use.

YCC 2002/2008	'	'	'	'	'	'		YCC 2002	YCC 2005	YCC 2008	YCC 2010r	ISOGG 2006	ISOGG 2007	ISOGG 2008	ISOGG 2009	ISOGG 2010	ISOGG 2011	ISOGG 2012
M4	24	VIII	1U	37	Eu16	H17	E	M*	M	M1	M1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
M-P34	24	VIII	1U	37	Eu16	H17	E	M1	M1	M1a	M1a	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
M-P22/M-M104	24	VIII	1U	38	Eu16	H17	E	M2*	M2a	M1b1	M1b1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
M-M16	24	VIII	1U	39	Eu16	H17	E	M2a	M2a1	M1b1a	M1b1a	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
M-M83	24	VIII	1U	38	Eu16	H17	E	M2b	M2a2	M1b1b	M1b1b	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
K-SRY9138/M-SRY9138	23	VIII	1E	25	Eu16	H5	F	K1	K1	M2a	M2a	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

;Sources
The following research teams per their publications were represented in the creation of the YCC Tree.
Karafet's 2008 paper introduced a number of changes, compared to the previous . Before the discovery of the P256 marker, the current subgroup M-M4 previously represented the whole of Haplogroup M-P256; and subgroups M2 and M3 were formerly classed as subgroups K1 and K7 of the parent Haplogroup K.