(a.ta.ca.men’sis, NL. fem. Adj. atacamensis, pertaining to the Atacama Desert biome)
Isolates ATA-11A-B, ATA-12C-B, and ATA-13E-S displayed morphological characteristics consistent with those commonly observed in species of the genus Nakazawaea. After 3 days on YM agar at 25 ºC colonies are small, convex, grayish-white, and have an entire margin. Cells are ellipsoidal to elongate (1.1 - 3.1 x 2.1 – 4.5 µm) and occur singly or in mother-bud pairs (Figure 2 ). Budding is multilateral, though predominantly polar. In Dalmau plates after 14 days on corn meal agar, pseudohyphae and true hyphae were not observed. No ascospores or signs of conjugation were not seen on sporulation media. Fermentation of glucose, fructose and galactose is positive, while maltose, trehalose and sucrose are negative (Table S2 ). The species utilizes D-glucose, sucrose, D-galactose, α-trehalose, maltose, melezitose, cellobiose, salicin, L-rhamnose, D-xylose, L-arabinose, D-arabinose (w/s), D-ribose, ethanol, glycerol, erythritol (slow), ribitol, D-mannitol, D-glucitol, succinate, citrate, D-gluconate (slow), xylitol (slow), ethyl acetate (w/s) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine as carbon sources. No growth occurs on inulin, raffinose, melibiose, lactose, soluble starch, L-sorbose, methanol, galactitol, myo-inositol, DL-lactate, D-glucosamine, hexadecane, acetone and 2-propanol. Lysine is utilized as sole nitrogen source but not nitrate and nitrite. Growth in amino-acid-free medium is positive. Growth at 10, 20, and 35°C is positive. Growth on YPD agar with 10 % sodium chloride and growth on 50 % glucose/yeast extract (0.5 %) are negative. Acid production is positive (slow). Starch-like compounds are absent. Growth in the presence of 0.01% cycloheximide is positive. Diazonium blue B color and urease reactions are negative. The holotype of Nakazawaea atacamensis , strain CBS 18375T, is preserved in a metabolically inactive state at the CBS Yeast Collection of the Westerdijk Fungal Diversity Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Additionally, an isotype of N. atacamensis has been deposited as strain RGM 3383 in the Chilean Culture Collection of Microbial Genetic Resources (CChRGM) at the Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) in Chile. The Mycobank number is MB 849680. Furthermore, 35 paratypes ofN. atacamensis were isolated and are maintained in a metabolically inactive state at the Universidad de Santiago de Chile.