Roots of acne

Skin Most people experience a bout of acne at some stage in their life. For an unlucky few, the skin condition feels relentless and can evade treatment. Petridis et al. performed a DNA study of individuals with acne vulgaris and found that those affected share similar, but surprising, genetic mutations. Homing in on 15 regions of the genome, they identified a series of culprit genes that controlled hair growth and follicle formation. This discovery lends weight to the idea that hair follicle shape creates a milieu susceptible to bacterial colonization and inflammation. Nat. Commun. 9 , 5075 (2018).