  We describe birational representations of discrete groups generated by
involutions, having their origin in the theory of exactly solvable
vertex-models in lattice statistical mechanics. These involutions correspond
respectively to two kinds of transformations on $q \times q$ matrices: the
inversion of the $q \times q$ matrix and an (involutive) permutation of the
entries of the matrix. We concentrate on the case where these permutations are
elementary transpositions of two entries. In this case the birational
transformations fall into six different classes. For each class we analyze the
factorization properties of the iteration of these transformations. These
factorization properties enable to define some canonical homogeneous
polynomials associated with these factorization properties. Some mappings yield
a polynomial growth of the complexity of the iterations. For three classes the
successive iterates, for $q=4$, actually lie on elliptic curves. This analysis
also provides examples of integrable mappings in arbitrary dimension, even
infinite. Moreover, for two classes, the homogeneous polynomials are shown to
satisfy non trivial non-linear recurrences. The relations between
factorizations of the iterations, the existence of recurrences on one or
several variables, as well as the integrability of the mappings are analyzed.
