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Background Heart function declines with age, but the genetic factors underlying such deterioration are largely unknown.Wnt signaling is known to play a role in heart development but it has not been shown to be important in adult heart function.We have investigated the nuclear adapter protein encoded by pygopus (pygo), which mediates canonical Wnt signaling, for roles in aging-related cardiac dysfunction.Methods and Results Using the Drosophila heart model, we show that cardiac-specific pygoknockdown (KD) in adult flies causes a significant (4-5 fold) increase in cardiac arrhythmias (p<0.001) that worsened with age and caused a significant decrease in contractility (-54%, p<0.001) with systolic dysfunction.