Guardians of the barrier: Microbiota engage AHR in keratinocytes to mantain skin homeostasis.

The skin barrier is critical in ensuring homeostasis, yet factors influencing its development, repair, and maintenance are ill-defined. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Uberoi et al. demonstrate the skin microbiota's role in maintaining barrier integrity via AHR signaling in keratinocytes, which has implications for skin disease management.