Which statement about carbohydrate utilization profiles is true?

• A. They measure growth rate on a single sugar.
• B. They identify microorganisms based on which carbohydrates they metabolize.
• C. They are based on genetic sequencing.
• D. They reflect lipid composition.

Answer: (B)

Carbohydrate utilization profiles focus on which sugars a microorganism can use as a carbon source and how strongly it can grow on each one, producing a characteristic pattern across a panel of sugars. This pattern acts like a metabolic fingerprint that helps identify and distinguish microorganisms, since different species metabolize different sets of carbohydrates.

That’s why this statement is the best: the profile is used to identify organisms based on their carbohydrate metabolism, by comparing the resulting growth or reaction pattern across many sugars.

The other ideas are more limited or describe different approaches: measuring growth on a single sugar doesn’t provide enough information for reliable identification; genetic sequencing and lipid composition are different types of analyses (genotypic vs. phenotypic) and don’t describe carbohydrate utilization profiles.