The shikimic acid pathway is a seven step metabolic route used by plants, bacteria, fungi, and parasites to synthesize the aromatic amino acids phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan from carbohydrates. This pathway converts phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose-4-phosphate into chorismate, which is then converted into the three aromatic amino acids. Shikimic acid is an intermediate compound in this pathway and is used to produce various secondary metabolites in plants like phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, tannins, and lignin. It is also used commercially in the production of the influenza drug Tamiflu and as the target for the herbicide glyph