Yeast Electroporation Recovery: 2M Sorbitol used as an osmotic stabilizer during and after electroporation of Saccharomyces cerevisiae spheroplasts to enhance viability.

Yeast/Fungal Spheroplasting: Provides osmotic support during enzymatic cell wall digestion and regeneration of yeast and filamentous fungi protoplasts.

Bacterial Spheroplast Formation: Serves as an osmoprotectant for spheroplast preparation and handling of Gram-negative cells such as Escherichia coli.

Gram-Positive Transformation: Used to stabilize cell walls during competent cell preparation and transformation of species like Bacillus subtilis and Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Selective Microbiology Media: Preparation of sorbitol-MacConkey agar to differentiate non-sorbitol-fermenting Escherichia coli O157:H7 from other coliforms.

Osmotic Stress Assays: Imposes defined hyperosmotic conditions for stress-response studies in microbes and cultured cells.

Protein Stabilization: Acts as an osmolyte in buffers to help maintain protein conformation and reduce aggregation during purification and storage.

Defined Media Carbon Source: Functions as a utilizable carbon source in specialized media for certain fungi and bacteria.