A Gram-stain-positive, aerobic actinomycete, designated strain BMP B8144(T), was isolated from desert soil, in Xinjiang province. northwest China. The isolate produced scanty aerial mycelium and fragmented substrate mycelium on most tested media. Cell-wall hydrolysates contained meso-diaminopimelic acid, galactose and mannose. The diagnostic phospholipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylhydroxylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, and phosphatidylinositol mannosides. The major fatty acids included iso-C-16:0, C-17:1 omega 8c and iso-C-15:0. The predominant menaquinones were MK-9(H-4) and MK-10(H-4). The DNA G+Ccontent was 70.4 mol% (genome). Based on the 165 rRNA gene sequence analysis on EzBioCloud server, strain BMP B8144(T) showed the closest similarities to Saccharothrix lopnurensis YIM LPA2h" (98.9 %) and 'Saccharothrix yanglingensis' Hhs.015 (98.6%). However, it can be distinguished from the closest strains based on the low levels of DNA-DNA relatedness (59.3 +/- 1.8 and 47.9 +/- 2.3%, respectively). A combination of morphological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics, strain BMP B8144(T) represents a novel species of the genus Saccharothrix, for which the name Saccharothrix deserti sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is BMP B8144(T) (=CGMCC 4.7490(T)=KCTC 49001(T)).