Small RNA (RyhB) was overexpressed artificially using an arabinose-inducible system in Escherichia coli and resulted in more succinate (7-fold) accumulation, which suggested that RyhB had a strong effect on sdhCDAB genes. Acetate was also increased indicating that RyhB had a comprehensive influence on glucose central metabolism. RyhB might therefore be useful for metabolic engineering of E. coli.