What is "micropia"

n. (context pathology English) micropsia

Micropia is the name of a family of LTR retrotransposons widespread in the genomes of fruitflies of the genus Drosophila[1, 2]. Micropia retrotransposons in some species of Drosophila express a male germline-specific and meiotic-specific antisense transcript complementary to the reverse transcriptase (RT) and ribonuclease A (RNaseA) genes of the proviral retrotransposon.[3] No active transposition of micropia has been registered so far. micropia is likely part of a selfish driver system responsible for the Drosophila Y chromosomal lampbrushloop evolution in some species.[3]

Micropia was discovered after micro-cloning experiments carried out on Y-chromosomal lampbrush loops by Prof. Wolfgang Hennig. Similar loops can be found in lampbrush chromosomes (see Lampbrush chromosome) that are characteristic for the female germ cells of most animals, except mammals. The name micropia is an artificial word, i.e. a concoction of "microcloning" and "copia-like element".

Micropia is a museum in Amsterdam based on the idea of distributing information about microbes, which are often associated with illness and disease despite their essential function in the daily functioning of human life. The museum opened on 30 September 2014. It claims to be the first of its kind.

The two main focuses for Micropia are: establishing a positive view of microbes and “becoming also an international platform for microbiology that brings diverse interest groups together in order to bridge the gap between science and the general public”. One of the basic premises for the museum is to encourage a more positive relationship between microbes and the general public because they believe that this will encourage more study and research into “micro-nature.”

Many of the exhibits in Micropia focus on microbes’ existence in daily life. It consists of both living microbes as well as virtual representations of microbes. The Kiss-O-Meter, for example, measures how many microbes are shared between two people as they kiss.