Passer domesticus or the common house sparrow is a passerine with a world-wide distribution. The species do not show an obligatory
commensal relationship with human beings. House sparrows have lived successfully around human beings for a long time, often
competing well with other birds. In fact, these birds were considered a menace in the past, particularly in the USA. House sparrows may
be occasional pollinators of flowers and edible crops, and despite being perceived as anti-farmers, they might actually be assisting in pest
control. But in the recent times, the numbers of this bird have been declining in many urban areas because of electromagnetic radiations
and other anthropogenic activities. Passer domesticus may suite as one of the models for studies influencing human technological
advances on life and commensal life-forms in human habitats. Keeping in view of the good level of interest of obtaining better insights into
evolutionary lineages of these birds and in particular understanding the genetics in various contexts (such as MHCs, SNPs,
microsatellites, gene expressions and epigenetics), we discuss the challenges in genome sequencing of this bird.
Key words: House sparrow; genome sequencing; evolution; comparative genomics; agriculture
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