24Biomolecules that respond to different external stimuli enable the remote control of genetically 25 modified cells. Chemogenetics and optogenetics, two tools that can control cellular activities 26 via synthetic chemicals or photons, respectively, have been widely used to elucidate underlying 27 physiological processes. These methods are, however, very invasive, have poor penetrability, 28 or low spatiotemporal precision, attributes that hinder their use in therapeutic applications. We 29 report herein a sonogenetic approach that can manipulate target cell activities by focused 30 ultrasound stimulation. This system requires an ultrasound-responsive protein derived from an 31 engineered auditory-sensing protein prestin. Heterogeneous expression of mouse prestin 32 containing two parallel amino acid substitutions, N7T and N308S, that frequently exist in 33 prestins from echolocating species endowed transfected mammalian cells with the ability to 34 sense ultrasound. An ultrasound pulse of low frequency and low pressure efficiently evoked 35 cellular calcium responses after transfecting with prestin(N7T, N308S). Moreover, pulsed 36 ultrasound can also non-invasively stimulate target neurons expressing prestin(N7T, N308S) 37 in deep regions of mice brains. Our study delineates how an engineered auditory-sensing 38 protein can cause mammalian cells to sense ultrasound stimulation. Moreover, owing to the 39 great penetration of low-frequency ultrasound (~400 mm in depth), our sonogenetic tools will 40 serve as new strategies for non-invasive therapy in deep tissues of large animals like primates. 41 42 43 44 45 46