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Since the advent of genetic engineering, Escherichia coli, the most widely studied prokaryotic model organism, and other bacterial species have remained at the forefront of biological research. These ubiquitous microorganisms play an essential role in deciphering complex gene regulation mechanisms, large-scale recombinant protein production, and lately the two emerging areas of biotechnology—synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. Among a myriad of factors affecting prokaryotic gene expression, judicious choice of promoter remains one of the most challenging and impactful decisions in many biological experiments. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of bacterial promoter engineering, with an emphasis on its applications in heterologous protein production, synthetic biology and metabolic engineering. In addition to highlighting relevant advances in these fields, the article facilitates the selection of an appropriate promoter by providing pertinent guidelines and explores the development of complementary databases, bioinformatics tools and promoter standardization procedures. The review ends by providing a quick overview of other emerging technologies and future prospects of this vital research area.