condenses L-Aspartic-4-semialdehyde with a sugar to form 2-amino-3,7-dideoxy-D-threo-hept-6-ulosonate, which is then turned by 3-dehydroquinate synthase II into 3-dehydroquinate. Both pathways end with chorismate (chrorismic acid), a substrate for the three aromatic amino acids. The fifth enzyme involved is the shikimate kinase, an