The understanding of the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms responsible for human cardiomyopathies,which are responsible for the largest fraction of sudden cardiac death and heart failure in young adults,is still incomplete.However,next-generation sequencing methods have considerably expanded our knowledge on causal variants,susceptibility factors and modifiers.In this talk,the current perspective on rare and common variants and epigenetic modifiers (DNA methylation,miRNA signatures,Histon-modification) is presented and related to advances in clinical genetic testing and the introduction of novel molecular biomarkers.