A polyphasic study was undertaken to establish the taxonomic status of three Modestobacter strains isolated from a high altitude Atacama Desert soil. The isolates, strains 1G6^T, 1G14 and 1G50, showed chemotaxonomic and morphological properties characteristic of members of the genus Modestobacter. The peptidoglycan contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, the whole cell sugars were glucose and ribose (diagnostic sugars) and arabinose, the predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H₄), polar lipid patterns contained diphosphatidylglycerol, glycophosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine (diagnostic component), phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylinositol while whole cellular fatty acid profiles consisted of complex mixtures of saturated, unsaturated iso- and anteiso-components. The isolates were shown to have different BOX-PCR fingerprint and physiological profiles. They formed a distinct phyletic line in Modestobacter 16S rRNA gene trees, were most closely related to the type strain of Modestobacter italicus (99.9 % similarity) but were distinguished from this and other closely related Modestobacter type strains using a combination of phenotypic properties. Average nucleotide identity and digital DNA:DNA hybridization similarities between the draft genome sequences of isolate 1G6^T and M. italicus BC 501^T were 90.9 % and 42.3 %, respectively, indicating that they belong to different species. Based on these phenotypic and genotypic data it is proposed that the isolates be assigned to a novel species in the genus Modestobacter, namely as Modestobacter excelsi with isolate 1G6^T (=DSM 107535^T =PCM 3004^T) as the type strain. Analysis of the whole genome sequence of M. excelsi 1G6^T (genome size of 5.26 Mb) showed the presence of genes and gene clusters that encode for properties that are in tune with its adaptation to extreme environmental conditions that prevail in the Atacama Desert biome.

进行了多相研究，以确定从高海拔阿塔卡马沙漠土壤中分离出的三种Modestobacter菌株的分类状况。菌株，菌株1G6 ^Ť，1G14和1G50，显示属的成员的化学分类和形态学特性特性Modestobacter。肽聚糖含有内消旋-二氨基庚二酸，全细胞糖为葡萄糖和核糖（诊断糖）和阿拉伯糖，主要的甲萘醌为MK-9（H _4）），极性脂质图案包含双磷脂酰甘油，糖磷脂酰肌醇，磷脂酰乙醇胺（诊断部件），磷脂酰甘油和磷脂酰肌醇，同时整个蜂窝脂肪酸谱由饱和的，不饱和的异和的复杂混合物的anteis邻部件。分离物显示具有不同的BOX-PCR指纹和生理特征。它们在Modestobacter 16S rRNA基因树中形成了独特的系统系，与意大利Modestobacter的类型菌株最相关（相似性为99.9％），但与该菌株和其他密切相关的Modestobacter区别开来。使用表型特性的组合来筛选类型菌株。分离株1G6 ^T和意大利分枝杆菌BC 501 ^T的基因组序列草图之间的平均核苷酸同一性和数字DNA：DNA杂交相似性分别为90.9％和42.3％，表明它们属于不同的物种。根据这些表型和基因型数据，建议将分离株分配给Modestobacter属中的一个新物种，即卓越的Modestobacter，以分离株1G6 ^T（= DSM 107535 ^T = PCM 3004 ^T）作为类型菌株。Excel。M. excelsi 1G6 ^T全基因组序列分析 （基因组大小为5.26 Mb）表明存在基因和基因簇，这些基因和簇编码的特性与其对Atacama Desert生物群系中普遍存在的极端环境条件的适应性相吻合。