A diverse range of stresses such as heat, cold, salt, ethanol, oxygen starvation or nutrient starvation induces same stress-responsive proteins. This general stress response enhances bacterial survival significantly. In Bacillus subtilis and closely related Gram-positive bacteria Listeria monocytogenes, the general stress response is controlled by the alternative transcription factor ${sigma}^B$. The activity of ${sigma}^B$ is regulated post-translationally by a signal transduction network that has been extensively studied in B. subtilis, and serve as a model for L. monocytogenes. The proposed model of L. monocytogenes signal transduction network is similar to that of B. subtilis, but the energy stress pathway is missing. More than 150 general stress proteins belong to ${sigma}^B$ regulon of B. subtilis and L. monocytogenes. In both bacteria, ${sigma}^B$ function is primarily important for resistance to diverse stresses. In addition, ${sigma}^B$ function contributes to the control of important virulence genes in food-borne pathogen L. monocytogenes. Therefore, understanding of the general stress response is important not only for bacterial physiology, but also for pathogenicity.