We first investigated the activities of the MmuPV1 E8^E2 (mE8^E2) protein in tissue culture-based assays. Vectors expressing wt mE8^E2; a hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged version, mE8^E2-HA; or the empty vector were transfected into human C33A cells together with a plasmid in which firefly luciferase expression is driven by a minimal promoter that harbors four E2 binding sites (
Fig. 1A). These E2 binding sites are also recognized by E8^E2 due to the shared DNA binding domain. Transfection with the mE8^E2 expression construct repressed promoter activity with statistical significance by 38% at 3 ng input, 30% at 10 ng input, and 19% at 30 ng input, indicating that mE8^E2 has transcriptional repression activity (
Fig. 1A). ME8^E2-HA showed similar repression activity, indicating that the addition of the epitope tag does not influence this activity (
Fig. 1A). The repression activities of HPV1, -8, -16 and -31 and CRPV E8^E2 proteins are enhanced by the E8 part (
10,
15,
19,
23). Sequence comparison revealed that the MmuPV1 E8 peptide sequence is very similar to those of HPV1, -5, and -8 and CRPV E8 (
Fig. 1B). Deletion of the majority of the E8 peptide (mE8^E2 d2-9 and mE8^E2 d2-9-HA) resulted in proteins that repressed the reporter at 3 ng input to 50 and 54%, respectively, and at 30 ng input to 69 and 77%, respectively. This repression was, with the exception of that seen with 3 ng input, not statistically significant (
Fig. 1A). This suggested that the E8 part contributes to repression activity. Immunoblot analyses of mE8^E2-HA- and mE8^E2 d2-9-HA-transfected cells revealed that deletion of the E8 part increased protein amounts (
Fig. 1C). This is similar to what has been observed for HPV E8^E2 proteins (
10,
15,
19,
35) and indicates that reduced repression by mE8^E2-HA d2-9 is not due to an unstable protein. To validate these findings with natural promoters of MmuPV1, a fragment from the stop codon of
L1 to the start codon of
E1 was inserted in frame with the firefly luciferase gene (pGL mURR/E1-luc;
Fig. 2C). This region encompasses the upstream regulatory region (URR), the E6 and E7 genes, and the P7107, P7503, P360, and P533 promoters that are active in MmuPV1-induced tumors (
34). Cotransfection of pGL mURR/E1-luc with increasing amounts of mE8^E2 or mE8^E2-d2-9 expression vectors into C33A cells revealed a statistically significant, concentration-dependent reduction of activity to 45% at 30 ng input of mE8^E2 expression vector (
Fig. 2A). ME8^E2 d2-9 also reduced reporter activity, but slightly less effectively (56% at 30 ng input), but this difference was not statistically significant (
P = 0.12). This indicated that mE8^E2 inhibits MmuPV1 promoter activity, but this was only weakly dependent on the E8 domain. To test whether mE8^E2 is able to repress E1/E2-dependent origin replication, a replication reporter assay previously described for different HPV was used in C33A cells (
10,
15). The PV origin of replication is always located in the URR and requires E1 and E2 proteins for the initiation of replication (
6). Cotransfection of pGL mURR/E1-luc with expression vectors for mE1 or mE2 alone did not influence reporter activity, whereas their combination stimulated reporter expression 17-fold (
Fig. 2B), consistent with an E1/E2-dependent replication of the reporter plasmid. Cotransfection of the mE8^E2 expression construct resulted in a concentration-dependent decrease of reporter activity that completely abolished the stimulation by E1 and E2 at 100 ng input of expression vector. Cotransfection of mE8^E2 d2-9 also decreased E1/E2-dependent activity, but even at the largest amount, it was 4-fold less active than mE8^E2; this was statistically significant. Furthermore, DNA replication levels of the pGL mURR/E1-luc construct were determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR) after DpnI digestion (
Fig. 2D). Cotransfection of mE1 or mE2 alone did not increase plasmid replication levels compared to those in the empty vector control. In contrast, cotransfection of both mE1 and mE2 significantly increased the amount of newly replicated plasmids compared to those in the empty vector, mE1, or mE2. The addition of mE8^E2 significantly reduced replication. ME8^E2 d2-9 also reduced plasmid replication, but this did not reach statistical significance. This indicates that mE8^E2 directly inhibits E1- and E2-dependent replication, similarly to HPV E8^E2 proteins (
10,
15,
17).