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Where does glycolysis take place before pyruvate enters a mitochondrion?

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Fluorescent confocal image of HeLa cells with green microtubules outlining cell shapes, red mitochondria, and blue nuclei. — mitochondrion Mitochondria (red) are found throughout the cytoplasm of almost all eukaryotic cells (cell nucleus is shown in blue; cytoskeleton is shown in yellow).

Glycolysis takes place in the cytoplasm of the cell. During this process, a glucose molecule is broken down into two molecules of pyruvate. Once glycolysis is complete, these pyruvate molecules are transported into the mitochondria to undergo further processing, such as conversion into acetyl coenzyme A for the tricarboxylic acid cycle.12