  We examine the relationship between magnetic flux generation, taken as an
indicator of large-scale dynamo action, and magnetic helicity, computed as an
integral over the dynamo volume, in a simple dynamo. We consider dynamo action
driven by Magneto-Rotational Turbulence (MRT) within the shearing-box
approximation. We consider magnetically open boundary conditions that allow a
flux of helicity in or out of the computational domain. We circumvent the
problem of the lack of gauge invariance in open domains by choosing a
particular gauge -- the winding gauge -- that provides a natural interpretation
in terms of average winding number of pairwise field lines. We use this gauge
precisely to define and measure the helicity and helicity flux for several
realizations of dynamo action. We find in these cases, that the system as a
whole does not break reflectional symmetry and the total helicity remains small
even in cases when substantial magnetic flux is generated. We find no
particular connection between the generation of magnetic flux and the helicity
or the helicity flux through the boundaries. We suggest that this result may be
due to the essentially nonlinear nature of the dynamo processes in MRT.
