It has been reported that as many as 200,000 Australians are at the verge of being affected with skin cancer melanoma. According to the experts, melanoma is a deadly skin cancer caused by mutated genes.

It is believed that the mutated gene, which is responsible of triggering melanoma, is carried by 200,000 Australians. As the summer season is making entry in Australia, people are requested to protect themselves from sunburns.

MITF gene has been identified by the researchers for causing melanoma. This particular gene increases a person's chances of being affected with skin cancer by 10%. Although it has been found that the skin cancer is caused by mutated gene, the tests to diagnose the mutated gene are yet to be created. The discovery of mutated MITF gene was originally made by a team of researchers from Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.

New Zealand and Australia have largest cases of melanoma in the world. According to researchers from Australia, US and Britain, people with eye color other than blue have higher chances of developing skin cancer.

As melanoma cases in the country are highest, there is need to understand ways by which the mutated gene, causing skin cancer, could be detected earlier. The findings of the researchers have been acknowledged by Cancer Council Australia's Terry Slevin who was reported of saying that the finding of the researchers is "a worthwhile and a potentially useful discovery".

It is hoped that soon researchers would be able to find a way of diagnosing people with the mutated gene so that they could be prevented from the deadly skin cancer melanoma. In Australia, melanoma is the fourth deadliest diseases.