Question

Enzymes of glycolysis are found in:

• A. Cytosol
• B. Cell membrane
• C. Mitochondria
• D. Ribosomes

Hint:

Glycolysis runs even in cells lacking mitochondria, like red blood cells.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

Step 1: Recall where energy pathways sit inside the cell. Glycolysis is an anaerobic-capable pathway, so it does not need the inner mitochondrial machinery and is therefore placed in the fluid part of the cytoplasm.

Step 2: All ten enzymes that convert glucose to pyruvate, from the first kinase step to the final pyruvate kinase step, float freely in the cytosol. This allows glycolysis to proceed even when oxygen and mitochondria are absent, such as in red blood cells which have no mitochondria yet still run glycolysis.

Step 3: Eliminating distractors. The mitochondrion is the site of the citric acid cycle and electron transport, not glycolysis. The plasma membrane and ribosomes serve transport and protein-making roles respectively, and hold no glycolytic enzyme.

Therefore the location of glycolytic enzymes is the cytosol.

\[\boxed{\text{Cytosol}}\]