<div>Atacama is the most hyper-arid Desert in the world. In this study, we
describe a novel species, <i>Nakazawaea atacamensis</i> f. a., sp. nov.,
isolated from plant samples in the Atacama Desert of Chile. In total,
three isolates of <i>N. atacamensis</i> were obtained from independent
<i>Neltuma chilensis</i> bark samples (synonym Prosopis chilensis,
Algarrobo). The novel species was delineated based on morphological,
physiological, biochemical, and molecular characteristics. A
neighbour-joining analysis using the sequences of the D1/D2 domains of
LSU rRNA revealed that <i>N. atacamensis</i> sp. nov. clustered with
<i>Nakazawaea pomicola</i>. The sequence of <i>N. atacamensis</i>
differed from closely related species by 1.3% to 5.2% in the D1/D2
domains. A phylogenomic analysis based on single nucleotide
polymorphism’s data confirms that the novel species belongs to the genus
<i>Nakazawaea,</i> and placed <i>N. atacamensis</i> closer to <i>N.
peltata</i>. Phenotypic comparisons demonstrated that <i>N. atacamensis</i>
sp. nov. exhibited distinct carbon assimilation patterns compared to its
related species. Genome sequencing of the ATA-11A-B <sup>T</sup>
strain revealed a genome size of approximately 12.4 Mbp, similar to
other <i>Nakazawaea</i> species, with 5,116 protein-coding genes
annotated using InterProScan. In addition, <i>N. atacamensis</i>
exhibited the capacity to ferment synthetic wine must, representing a
potential new yeast for mono or co-culture wine fermentations. This
comprehensive study expands our understanding of the genus
<i>Nakazawaea</i> and highlights the ecological and industrial potential
of these yeasts in fermentation processes. The holotype of <i>N.
atacamensis</i> sp. nov. is CBS 18375 <sup>T</sup>. The Mycobank
number is MB 849680.</div>