The ability of microspores to undergo embryo development after a successful induction treatment provides a unique experimental system to study a variety of developmental processes in plants. Relent published results focus on the cellular and molecular aspects of the early induction process. In this review, besides summarizing the current findings, the advantages of using the MDE system to study other aspects of embryo development are emphasized. The continual improvement of culturing procedures, media components, and molecular methods guarantees exciting new findings in the near future.