We define a collection of functions
on the set of plane trees (or standard Young tableaux). The functions are adapted
from transpositions in the representation theory of the symmetric group and almost
form a group action. They were motivated by
local moves in combinatorial biology,
which are maps that represent a certain unfolding and refolding of RNA strands.
One main result of this study identifies a subset of local moves that we call
-local moves, and
proves that
-local moves
correspond to the maps
acting on standard Young tableaux. We also prove that the graph of
-local
moves is a connected, graded poset with unique minimal and
maximal elements. We then extend this discussion to functions
that mimic reflections in
the Weyl group of type
.
The corresponding graph is no longer connected, but we prove it has two connected
components, one of symmetric plane trees and the other of asymmetric plane trees.
We give open questions and possible biological interpretations.
Keywords
plane trees, RNA, Young tableaux, connected components,
permutation