Table 1 Cladistic notation for mitochondrial clusters

1) Single capital letters denote principal clusters

E.g., A, B, C, D…

2) Nesting of clusters is permitted

E.g., C belongs to M, and M belongs to L3

3) Subclusters of single-capital-letter-coded clusters can have non-negative integer suffixes that follow hierarchical notation with alternating small letters and numbers

E.g., C1d1 is a subcluster of C1d which is a subcluster of C1 which belongs to C

4) Clade can be referred to using the names of its prominent subclades

E.g., CZ refers to the smallest monophyletic clade containing C and Z

5) Paraphyletic clusters can be temporarily labeled using the asterisk "*" as exponent suffix

E.g., If U6b1, U6b2, and U6b3 are known then U6b* includes all U6b sequences not in already mentioned subclusters