The operator that constructs the pseudovariety generated by the idempotent-generated semi-groups of a given pseudovariety is investigated. Several relevant examples of pseudovarieties generated by their idempotent-generated elements are given, as well as some properties of this operator. Particular attention is paid to the pseudovarieties in {J, R, L, DA} concerning this operator and their generator ranks and idempotent-generator ranks.