SAN FRANCISCO — Researchers have published what they describe as the largest molecular map of autism-related protein interactions, showing how many different genetic mutations can disrupt the same networks in the developing brain.

The study, released Thursday in the journal Science, charts more than 1,800 protein-protein interactions linked to 100 high-confidence autism risk genes. About 87 percent of those interactions had not been reported before. The authors say the work shifts attention from long lists of genes toward the protein complexes those genes encode — a level at which future drugs might act.

"You need this insight to ultimately develop drugs, and we've generated a map now that is providing essentially the molecular underpinnings of autism and pointing us in a multitude of different directions for ultimate drug discovery," said Dr. Nevan Krogan, a University of California, San Francisco professor, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute and senior investigator at the Gladstone Institutes.

"The hope would be at some point you'd be looking back and saying, 'Ah, this map led to X, Y, and Z, and therefore we have now the first-ever treatment to autism. That's the vision, and I believe that's going to come to fruition at some point in the future," Krogan said.

More than 250 genes have been associated with autism spectrum disorder. That diversity has made it hard to imagine a single therapy. Proteins, however, often work in shared complexes. If many mutations damage the same partnerships, a smaller set of targets could matter for larger groups of patients.

"When you have the genes and the mutations, that's just a list. That's a parts list," Krogan........

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