The generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells represents a promising 
approach for innovative cell therapies. The original method requires viral 
transduction of several reprogramming factors, which may be associated with an 
increased risk of tumorigenicity. Transposition of reprogramming cassettes 
represents a recent alternative to viral approaches. Since binary transposons 
can be produced as common plasmids they provide a safe and cost-efficient 
alternative to viral delivery methods. Here, we compared the efficiency of two 
different transposon systems, Sleeping Beauty (SB) and piggyBac (PB), for the 
generation of murine iPS. Murine fibroblasts derived from an inbred BL/6 mouse 
line carrying a pluripotency reporter, Oct4-EGFP, and fibroblasts derived from 
outbred NMRI mice were employed for reprogramming. Both transposon systems 
resulted in the successful isolation of murine iPS cell lines. The reduction of 
the core reprogramming factors to omit the proto-oncogene c-Myc was compatible 
with iPS cell line derivation, albeit with reduced reprogramming efficiencies. 
The transposon-derived iPS cells featured typical hallmarks of pluripotency, 
including teratoma growth in immunodeficient mice. Thus SB and PB transposons 
represent a promising non-viral approach for iPS cell derivation.