Physiological, biochemical and genetic studies of Corynebacterium glutamicum, a workhorse of white biotechnology used for amino acid production, led to a waste knowledge mainly about amino acid biosynthetic pathways and the central carbon metabolism of this bacterium. Spurred by the availability of the genome sequence and of genome-based experimental methods such as DNA microarray analysis, research on genetic regulation came into focus. Recent progress on mechanisms of genetic regulation of the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus metabolism in C. glutamicum will be discussed.