In order to ensure a productive life cycle, human papillomaviruses (HPVs) require fine regulation of their gene products. Uncontrolled activity of the viral oncoproteins E6 and E7 results in the immortalization of the infected epithelial cells and thus prevents the production of mature virions. Ectopically expressed E2 has been shown to suppress transcription of the HPV E6 and E7 region in cell lines where the viral DNA is integrated into the host genome, resulting in growth inhibition. However, it has been demonstrated that growth control of these cell lines can also occur independently of HPV E2 transcriptional activity in high-risk HPV types. In addition, E2 is unable to suppress transcription of the same region in cell lines derived from cervical tumors that harbor only episomal copies of the viral DNA. Here we show that HPV type 16 (HPV-16) E2 is capable of inhibiting HPV-16 E7 cooperation with an activated ras oncogene in the transformation of primary rodent cells. Furthermore, we demonstrate a direct interaction between the E2 and E7 proteins which requires the hinge region of E2 and the zinc-binding domain of E7. These viral proteins interact in vivo, and E2 has a marked effect upon both the stability of E7 and its cellular location, where it is responsible for recruiting E7 onto mitotic chromosomes at the later stages of mitosis. These results demonstrate a direct role for E2 in regulating the function of E7 and suggest an important role for E2 in directing E7 localization during mitosis.Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a large family of small, double-stranded DNA viruses. They infect cutaneous and mucosal epithelial tissue at different anatomical locations, resulting in a variety of clinical symptoms ranging from benign warts to invasive genital cancers (13,29). Infection with the high-risk types, most commonly HPV type 16 (HPV-16) and HPV-18, has been associated with the development of more than 99% of cervical cancer cases. The tumorigenicity of HPV is dependent on the activity of two virally encoded oncoproteins, E6 and E7. These bind at a high affinity and disrupt the function of p53 (46) and the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein pRB (6, 20), respectively. While E6 plays a role in inhibiting apoptosis and interfering with cell adhesion and polarity (30), E7 acts by driving S-phase progression, regulating gene expression, and interfering with the activities of cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (23). In addition to inactivating the function of pRB, other cellular targets of E7 include the TATA box-binding protein (TBP) (31), TBP-associated factors (35), members of the AP-1 transcription factor family (2), and histone deacetylases (7). E7 is a small phosphoprotein that shares some sequence homology with the adenovirus E1a protein and the simian virus 40 large T antigen (8). E7 is 98 amino acids in length and contains a zinc-binding domain in the C-terminal region whose structural integrity is necessary for the activity of E7 (2, 26). While both E6 and E7 cooperate to induce immortalization o...