Genomic signatures of human commensalism in House Sparrows; but what about urban Tree Sparrows?

News media have been reporting the results of a paper published recently on the genome of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)*. It is likely that commensal House Sparrows moved into Europe as agriculture spread. By comparing the genomes of a population of the species that is not commensal with ones from those that are, two distinctive signatures of positive selection associated with commensalism were found. One signature included a gene involved in development of the craniofacial region and skull the other a gene linked to starch digestion, as in, the authors noted, the domestication of dogs and the human population during the agricultural revolution of the Stone Age. It would appear that commensal House Sparrows adapted to eating cereal seeds.

Here's a male House Sparrow

Embed from Getty Images Male House Sparrow

Those of us who live or have lived in parts of Asia, will twitch a little at these news report because the commensal sparrow is not the House Sparrow but the Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus). That realisation often comes as a shock to birdwatchers from Europe who step out of their hotels in the heat of Hong Kong.

And here's a Tree Sparrow

Embed from Getty Images

So, if the authors of the paper on the genome of the House Sparrow extend their work to the Tree Sparrow would they find the same signatures of human commensalism? Anybody taking bets?

*Ravinet M, Elgvin TO, Trier C, Aliabadian M, Gavrilov A, Sætre G-P. 2018. Signatures of human-commensalism in the house sparrow genome. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20181246. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2018.1246