We report here the first full-length sequence of the eight ssRNA genome segments of the infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV, Glesvaer/2/90 isolate), a salmonid orthomyxovirus-like.Comparison of ISAV genome sequence with those of others orthomyxovirus reveals low identity values, and a remarkable feature is the extremely long 59 end UTR of ISAV segments, which all contain an additional conserved motif of unknown function. In addition to the genome nucleotide sequence determination, specific mAbs have been produced through mice immunization with sucrose-purified ISAV. Four mAbs directed against the haemagglutininesterase glycoprotein, the nucleoprotein and free or actin-associated forms of the matrix protein have been characterized by (i) indirect fluorescent antibody test; (ii) virus neutralization; (iii) radioimmunoprecipitation and (iv) Western blot assays. These mAbs will potentially be useful for the development of new diagnostic tests, and the nucleotide sequences will help to establish a reverse genetics system for ISAV.Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) was first observed in Norway from Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in 1984 (Thorud & Djupvik, 1988). ISA outbreaks have since caused considerable economic losses to the Norwegian salmon farming industry and have also been reported in Scotland (Rowley et al., 1999), in the eastern coast of Canada (Bouchard et al., 1999;Lovely et al., 1999) and has been associated with extensive outbreaks in Chile since June 2007(Godoy et al., 2008. The mortality rate in contaminated salmon farms may vary from 15 to 100 % over several months. Although, ISA virus (ISAV) outbreaks were observed only in Atlantic salmon, the virus was detected from apparently healthy animals in other species (Raynard et al., 2001). The only exception was the isolation of ISAV from diseased Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in Chile in 1999 (Kibenge et al., 2001). Experimental infections showed that other species could be susceptible to ISAV infection, especially juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) for which mortality was recorded after both virus injection and bath immersion, which may represent a threat to the trout industry (Biacchesi et al., 2007).The aetiological agent of ISA was identified as an orthomyxovirus-like with a negative-stranded RNA genome consisting of eight segments (Dannevig et al., 1995;Falk et al., 1997;Mjaaland et al., 1997), and constitutes the only member of the genus Isavirus (Kawaoka et al., 2005). ISAV is an enveloped virus composed of four major structural proteins: the nucleoprotein (66-72 kDa), the matrix protein (22-25 kDa) and two envelope glycoproteins that are the haemagglutinin-esterase glycoprotein (42 kDa) and the fusion protein (47-50 kDa) (Clouthier et al., 2002;Falk et al., 2004). Sequence characterization of ISAV genome segments is almost fully achieved, except for several segment end UTRs (Sandvik et al., 2000). It is now evident that the gene coding assignment to each segment and the putative functions of the ISAV proteins are unique and significa...