YAP1 and cardiomyopathy: •Effect on physiological homeostasis•Dilated cardiomyopathy and premature death in αMHC-Cre; Yapflox/flox mice (Xin et al., 2013)•These cardiac phenotypes might be caused by the absence of Yap in prenatal and postnatal heart development•Important for regeneration after cardiac damage•Compromised cardiac regeneration following myocardial infarction (MI) in α-MHC-Cre; Yapflox/+ mice (Del Re et al., 2013)•Improved cardiac regeneration and contractility after MI in mice overexpressing constitutively active form of Yap (Xin et al., 2013)