Nocardiopsis deserti sp. nov., isolated from a high altitude Atacama Desert soil

Abstract

The taxonomic status of a Nocardiopsis strain, designated H13T, isolated from a high altitude Atacama Desert soil, was established by using a polyphasic approach. The strain was found to have chemotaxonomic, cultural and morphological characteristics consistent with its classification within the genus Nocardiopsis and formed a well-supported clade in the Nocardiopsis phylogenomic tree together with the type strains of Nocardiopsis alborubida , Nocardiopsis dassonvillei and Nocardiopsis synnematoformans. Strain H13T was distinguished from its closest relatives by low average nucleotide identity (93.2–94.9 %) and in silico DNA–DNA hybridization (52.5–62.4 %) values calculated from draft genome assemblies and by a range of phenotypic properties. On the basis of these results, it is proposed that the isolate be assigned to the genus Nocardiopsis as Nocardiopsis deserti sp. nov. with isolate H13T (=CGMCC 4.7585T=KCTC 49249T) as the type strain.