Ank3 has previously emerged as a common genetic risk factor for neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder26, 27 and schizophrenia,28 whereas a strong dysfunction of the GABAergic system has also been demonstrated in anxiety and depression.51, 52 We focused our subsequent analyses on Ank3 since its methylation status was affected in the same direction also in the whole blood and buccal cells from 2-year-old monkeys exposed to ELS, whereas Gabrg2 did not (Supplementary Table 7). This evidence concerns the gene ANK3 and major depressive disorder.