Why the name?

Is the name some stupid joke? Well, yes, it is, although I wouldn’t call it stupid – I’d call it the funniest bioengineering joke ever ever ever.

On the January 4^th, 2007 episode of Penn Radio, Penn Jillette was fielding calls from people who had broken their New Year resolutions. One caller mentioned that she was supposed to buy gifts for her husband’s parents, and she slipped in a note that her husband had three sets of parents. Michael Goudeau, the co-host, remarked “He’s like wheat.” At first, Penn kept talking to the caller, but then suddenly asked Goudeau “Did you say he’s like wheat?”, then proceeded to laugh hysterically (as in totally-unfettered-screaming-for-joy-hysterical).

If you’re a scientist, I’m sure you’ll appreciate that dorky joke. If not, here’s a short explanation: You and I have two sets of chromosomes (one from your mother, one from your father). However, this is not true of all living things – for example, fungi tends to be monoploid (one set of chromosomes). Wheat is well-known for its polyploid properties (>2 sets of chromosomes), because polyploid wheat tends to survive better, and if a hybrid wheat is created, usually polyploidy is needed to keep the new plants from being sterile. Thus Goudeau’s reference to wheat.