Where glucose gets broken into pyruvate in the cell

Glucose is broken down into pyruvate in the cytoplasm of the cell. This process is known as glycolysis. Here are the steps:

1. Glucose enters the cell and is trapped by being phosphorylated to glucose-6-phosphate.

2. Glucose-6-phosphate is rearranged into its isomer, fructose-6-phosphate.

3. Another phosphate group is added to form fructose-1,6-bisphosphate.

4. Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate is split into two three-carbon sugars: dihydroxyacetone phosphate (DHAP) and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (G3P).

5. DHAP is converted into G3P. So, at this point, there are two molecules of G3P.

6. Each G3P is oxidized and attached to a phosphate group, forming 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate.

7. A phosphate group is removed from each 1,3-bisphosphoglycerate to form 3-phosphoglycerate, and two ATP molecules are formed.

8. Each 3-phosphoglycerate is rearranged into 2-phosphoglycerate.

9. Water is removed from each 2-phosphoglycerate to form phosphoenolpyruvate.

10. The last phosphate group is transferred to ADP to form ATP, and pyruvate is left.

So, the end product of glycolysis is two molecules of pyruvate.