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Conservative mutations are mutations that change an amino acid to a different amino acid with similar biochemical properties (e.g. charge, hydrophobicity and size).
Description
There are 20 naturally occurring amino acids, however some of these share similar characteristics. For example, leucine and isoleucine are both aliphatic, branched hydrophobes. Similarly, aspartic acid and glutamic acid are both small, negatively charged residues. Conservative mutations in proteins often have a smaller effect on function than non-conservative mutations. The reduced effect of conservative mutations on function can also be seen in the occurrence of different mutations in nature. Non-conservative mutations between proteins are far more likely to be removed by natural selection due to their deleterious effects.
Although there are many ways to classify amino acids, they are often sorted into six main groups on the basis of their structure and the general chemical characteristics of their R groups.