SINGAPORE - How you bet and invest money may be a matter of your genes.

Researchers from Singapore and the United States have linked the work of five genes to how a person acts when taking risks and making decisions.

The researchers identified the genes by studying more than 200 undergraduates at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as they played a betting game. The genes affect the role of dopamine, a chemical released in the brain that signals pleasure and motivates people to seek rewards.

The research was by NUS, the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was published on Monday in the online edition of the US Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.