2-Epimerase was discovered as a target because it was one of the enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway for synthesizing an essential neutral polysaccharide in the cell wall of B. anthracis (Glu:Gal-NAc:Man-NAc at a 3:2:1 ratio).
The root of both "mannose" and "mannitol" is manna, which the Bible records as the food supplied to the Israelites during their journey in the region of Sinai.
For reasons of structural complexity, there is no condensed chemical formula (or semi-structural formula) that specifies glucose (and there exist many different molecules, for example fructose and mannose, have the same molecular formula Endoglycosidase H
Endoglycosidase H is able to cleave each structure of this oligosaccharide as it is processed until the enzyme Golgi alpha-mannosidase II removes two mannose subunits.
Fucose and GlcNAc have been found only in Dictyostelium discoideum, mannose in Leishmania mexicana, and xylose in Trypanosoma cruzi.
INn Trypanosoma congolense, in vitro analyses of the incorporated sugars after hydrolysis of the glycoprotein showed that glucosamine and mannose are utilized in the biosynthesis of the carbohydrate moiety directly whereas galactose was converted possibly to other intermediates before being incorporated into the antigen.