Final answer:
An organism in KIA that does not ferment glucose or lactose will not show an acid-induced color change, indicating the absence of fermentation. Strict aerobes specifically will have trouble surviving without oxygen as they are unable to ferment sugars and thus cannot carry out anaerobic respiration or ATP production in its absence.
Step-by-step explanation:
If an organism in KIA does not ferment glucose or lactose, there will be no color change indicating that acid is not produced from the fermentation of these sugars. Strict aerobes that cannot ferment sugars will not grow well or at all in the absence of oxygen as they rely on aerobic respiration for ATP production.
Organisms that do not ferment glucose or lactose would not produce acid under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. Since fermentation is often a mechanism to regenerate NAD+ from NADH, the inability to ferment means that a strict aerobe would require oxygen to accept the electrons during the electron transport chain, which is critical for the production of ATP in aerobic respiration.
Also, if neither aerobic nor anaerobic respiration occur, the organism will be unable to proceed with glycolysis due to the lack of oxidized electron carriers, leading to the accumulation of NADH without a way to recycle it back to NAD+. This halts energy production as ATP synthesis is closely tied to these processes.