Lateral root formation is initiated after a restricted pericycle cell acquires founder cell identity and divides asymmetrically. The plant hormone auxin plays an important role in this process and many studies reported on the auxin regulated events that occur within the pericycle. However, how lateral root initiation is integrated with the developmental context of the surrounding tissues has remained largely unexplored. The goal of this projects is to identify the molecular mechanisms that coordinate lateral root initiation in the pericycle with the differentiation status of the surrounding tissues and to understand how local auxin transport in the surrounding tissues modulate lateral root initiation.