By the year 2010, 17.8 million youths aged 16-19 will work, up from 16 million in 2000, according to government forecasts. Young workers suffer a disproportionate share of injuries and fatalities, especially in the first year on the job. In 2006, 30 youths under 18 died from work-related injuries.
A mutation may or may not affect the amino acid sequence. A mutation may or may not affect the phenotype. Some specific mutations in a gene may have more adverse affects than other mutations in the same gene. A mutation is not necessarily bad. It may even be good. A mutation may enhance or positively change the function of the protein produced by the gene.
Mutation can result in several different types of change in sequences. Mutations in genes can either have no effect, alter the product of a gene, or prevent the gene from functioning properly or completely. Mutations can also occur in nongenic regions. A neutral mutation has no harmful or beneficial effect on the organism. 2  Such mutations occur at a steady rate, forming the basis for the molecular clock. 3  In the neutral theory of molecular evolution, neutral mutations provide genetic drift as the basis for most variation at the molecular level.