Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite loci characterized in the house sparrow Passer domesticus (Passeridae, Aves)

We characterized 14 polymorphic microsatellite loci in the house sparrow Passer domesticus. Four loci were isolated from house sparrow genomic libraries and 10 loci were identified by testing 100 loci that had been originally isolated in other passerine species. Loci were characterized in 37-54 unrelated sparrows from British and Norwegian populations. Each locus displayed between two and 31 alleles, with the observed heterozygosity ranging between 0.30 and 0.91.