Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Characterized by progressive renal dysfunction, ADPKD imposes very significant healthcare and economic burdens. It has commonly been assumed that progressive renal impairment promotes cardiac disease; however, our preliminary data suggest that cardiac dysfunction originates in cardiomyocytes and manifests prior to renal failure in ADPKD. Recent clinical evidence supports our findings by showing that ADPKD patients exhibit ventricular dysfunction before the onset of renal failure, even in non-hypertensive individuals. Mutations in the gene encoding Polycystin-1 (PC1) occur in 85% of patients and are responsible for the most severe cases. Importantly, PC1 is expressed in cardiomyocytes, yet its role(s) there is(are) poorly understood. We propose that the mutant PC1 – in a cardiomyocyte-autonomous fashion – initiates and drives heart disease in ADPKD, independent of renal failure. Our data show that PC1 cardiomyocyte-specific deletion promotes systolic and diastolic dysfunction in mice. Furthermore, using a mouse model harboring a clinically established ADPKD-causing PC1 mutation (RC allele), we provide evidence of impaired calcium-cycling and contractility at the cardiomyocyte level, which occur before the onset of renal failure. Heterozygous RC/+ young mice manifest alterations in calcium handling/contractility in isolated cardiomyocytes, which correlate with reduced left ventricular global longitudinal strain and diastolic dysfunction. We discovered that PC1 regulates action potential duration via Kv channel current regulation. PC1 ablation shortens action potential duration and impairs both calcium transients and contractility in cardiomyocytes. Additionally, PC1 deletion impairs sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) calcium loading through reduced SR calcium-ATPase (SERCA) activity. These data have led us to hypothesize that ADPKD-causing