Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 14, 2026

In Situ Isolation and Culturing of Recalcitrant Soil Bacteria using an Isolation Chip (iChip)
Published on: August 6, 2025
Amycolatopsis vastitatis sp. nov., an isolate from a high altitude subsurface soil on Cerro Chajnantor, northern
Hamidah Idris1,2, Imen Nouioui1, Wasu Pathom-Aree1,3
1School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Ridley Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
Abstract:
The taxonomic position of a novel Amycolatopsis strain isolated from a high altitude Atacama Desert subsurface soil was established using a polyphasic approach. The strain, isolate H5T, was shown to have chemical properties typical of members of the genus Amycolatopsis such as meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diamino acid in the cell wall peptidoglycan, arabinose and galactose as diagnostic sugars and MK-9(H4) as the predominant isoprenologue. It also has cultural and morphological properties consistent with its classification in the genus, notably the formation of branching substrate hyphae which fragment into rod-like elements. 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses showed that the strain is closely related to the type strain of Amycolatopsis mediterranei but could be distinguished from this and other related Amycolatopsis strains using a broad range of phenotypic properties. It was separated readily from the type strain of Amycolatopsis balhymycina, its near phylogenetic neighbour, based on multi-locus sequence data, by low average nucleotide identity (92.9%) and in silico DNA/DNA relatedness values (51.3%) calculated from draft genome assemblies. Consequently, the strain is considered to represent a novel species of Amycolatopsis for which the name Amycolatopsis vastitatis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is H5T (= NCIMB 14970T = NRRL B-65279T).
Related Concept Videos
The Soil Ecosystem
DNA Isolation
DNA Isolation
Overview Of Cell Separation And Isolation
Cyclic Processes And Isolated Systems
In the case of a non-isolated system, the change in the internal energy is zero only if the process is cyclic. A thermodynamic process is considered cyclic if the system undergoes a series of changes and returns to its initial state.
Consider a cyclic process that returns to its initial state, undergoing a four-step process. The heat transfer along each...
Techniques for Isolation of Pure Cultures

