Why PPAR-gamma is called peroxisome proliferator activator receptor?

[mktsgm]

Why PPAR-gamma is called peroxisome proliferator activator receptor? What connection does it have with peroxisome per se? Does it proliferate the number of peroxisomes inside a cell?

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Many names in biology are historical and do not necessarily reflect the main functions of the genes/proteins. For the PPARs

PPARs were originally identified in Xenopus frogs as receptors that induce the proliferation of peroxisomes in cells.[7] The first PPAR (PPARα) was discovered during the search of a molecular target for a group of agents then referred to as peroxisome proliferators, as they increased peroxisomal numbers in rodent liver tissue, apart from improving insulin sensitivity.[8] These agents, pharmacologically related to the fibrates were discovered in the early 1980s. When it turned out that PPARs played a much more versatile role in biology, the agents were in turn termed PPAR ligands. The best-known PPAR ligands are the thiazolidinediones; see below for more details.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peroxisome_proliferator-activated_receptor

In other words, the people who discovered and named the PPAR proteins found that they induced the proliferation of peroxisomes. It was only later that other roles for the PPAR proteins were discovered, but by then the PPAR name had stuck.