mut-7 of C. elegans, required for transposon silencing and RNA interference is a homolog of Werner syndrome helicase and RNaseD

A model in which MUT-7, guided by transposon-derived dsRNA, represses transposition by degrading transposon-specific messengers and prevents thereby transposase production and transposition, is proposed. It appears that NRAi may work by dsRNA-directed enzymatic RNA degradation. One Tc1 silenced strain of C. elegans has been has been mutagenized. Mutants in which Tc1 was activated in the germline were isolated.