From our RNA sequencing analysis, it emerges that diabetes and the metabolic syndrome induce the expression of crystallin β (i.e. Crybb3, Cryba2, Cryba1) and γ (i.e. Crygc, Crygb, Crygf) in the retina, whereas we did not observe any significant effect on α crystallins. Here, CRYBB3 is linked to diabetes mellitus.