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

The taxonomic status of a Nocardiopsis strain, designated H13(T), 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 Glade in the Nocardiopsis phylogenomic tree together with the type strains of Nocardiopsis alborubida, Nocardiopsis dassonvillei and Nocardiopsis synnematoformans. Strain H13(T) 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 H13(T) (=CGMCC 4.7585(T)=KCTC 49249(T)) as the type strain.