Altering Gene Functions by Conservative Substitutions - This type of mutation causes no change in amino acid type (i.e., an acidic type amino acid, e.g. Asp is replaced by another acidic type amino acid). In all cases, the net effect on the charge of protein in the molecule is nil.

Conservative mutations mayor may not affect the function of protein. It depends upon the site of replacement. Certain biochemical or kinetic properties, such as V max' Km' may be affected by conservative mutations. These mutations cannot be detected electrophoretically.