One major mission of microbial cell factory is overproduction of desired chemicals. To this end, it is necessary to orchestrate enzymes that affect metabolic fluxes. However, only modification of a small number of enzymes in most cases cannot maximize desired metabolites, and global regulation is required. Of myriad enzymes influencing global regulation, RNA polymerase (RNAP) may be the most versatile enzyme in biological realm because it not only serves as the workhorse of central dogma but also participates in a plethora of biochemical events. In fact, recent years have witnessed extensive exploitation of RNAPs for phenotypic engineering. While a few impressive reviews showcase the structures and functionalities of RNAPs, this review not only summarizes the state-of-the-art advance in the structures of RNAPs but also points out their enormous potentials in metabolic engineering and synthetic biology. This review aims to provide valuable insights for strain improvement.

微生物细胞工厂的一项主要任务是过量生产所需的化学品。为此，有必要协调影响代谢通量的酶。然而，在大多数情况下，仅对少数酶进行修饰并不能最大化所需的代谢物，因此需要进行全局调节。在影响全球调控的无数酶中，RNA 聚合酶 (RNAP) 可能是生物领域中用途最广泛的酶，因为它不仅是中心法则的主力，而且还参与过多的生化事件。事实上，近年来见证了 RNAP 在表型工程中的广泛应用。虽然一些令人印象深刻的评论展示了 RNAP 的结构和功能，这篇综述不仅总结了 RNAPs 结构的最新进展，还指出了它们在代谢工程和合成生物学中的巨大潜力。本综述旨在为应变改进提供有价值的见解。