épissage

Épissage is a term used in French to denote the act of joining pieces by splicing, sewing, or patching, depending on the field. It is commonly used in technical and academic contexts to describe the creation of a continuous whole from separate fragments. The word derives from the French concept of splicing, connecting elements by joining their ends.

In molecular biology, épissage is equivalent to RNA splicing, the process by which introns are removed from a pre‑mRNA transcript and exons are ligated to produce mature messenger RNA. Splicing is carried out by the spliceosome and can be constitutive or alternative, generating multiple transcripts from a single gene. Defects in épissage can lead to disease and are a focus of therapeutic research.

In film and audio production, épissage historically referred to the physical splicing and joining of film stock or magnetic tape to assemble scenes. With digital editing, the term remains in historical or technical descriptions, while modern workflows emphasize montage, sequencing, and non‑linear editing.

In crafts and textiles, épissage denotes the joining of fabric pieces by sewing, stitching, or patching, whether for construction or repair. The term highlights the method of assembling disparate segments into a single textile object.

See also: splicing, montage, RNA processing.