Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

A Bit Wimpy
08 February 2016

A Bit Wimpy

Many genes have unusual names, but one of the strangest is Piwi. It’s short for ‘P-element Induced Wimpy Testis' and comes from the scientist who first noticed the male fruit flies he was studying had unusually tiny testicles. They turned out to have a faulty Piwi gene, and faults in the human version– Hiwi – are implicated in testicular cancers. Luckily the fly testis in this microscope image – stained with dyes revealing DNA (blue) and proteins called VASA (red) and Tudor-SN (green) – is a normal size, packed with growing sperm cells. The protein made by Piwi is responsible for keeping ‘jumping genes’ (transposons) under control. These are virus-like stretches of DNA that can hop about in the genome, causing havoc. Although its function was previously a mystery, scientists have discovered that Tudor-SN works together with Piwi to keep a lid on transposons, stopping them from causing problems in the developing sperm.

Written by Kat Arney

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.