MicroRNAs comprise a family of small noncoding RNAs that modulate physiological processes, including adipogenesis. promotes adipocyte differentiation and enhances lipid accumulation. The transcriptional regulation of miR-17 during adipogenesis remains unknown. In this study, we investigated whether miR-17 is a target of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ), which is a key regulator of adipogenesis. The levels of miR-17 and the expression of PPARγ increased after the induction of adipocyte differentiation. Three putative peroxisome proliferator response elements (PPREs) were identified in the miR-17 promoter region. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation and luciferase reporter assays, we observed the interaction of PPARγ with the miR-17 promoter. Mutagenesis experiments showed that the -677/-655 region of the miR-17 promoter could function as a PPRE site. These results suggest that PPARγ is essential for transcriptional activation of the miR-17 gene, thereby contributing to understanding the molecular mechanism of adipogenesis in adipocytes.Key words : Adipogenesis, microRNA, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, 3T3-L1 cells *Corresponding author *Tel : +82-2-961-9208, Fax : +82-2-964-1079 *E-mail : shkim@khu.ac.kr This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.