“…The current models of proton pumping in CcO are essentially of two types: one, mainly based on work on bovine CcO in which the low‐spin heme a is the key element of the pump (Babcock & Callahan, ; Rousseau et al ., ; Papa, Capitanio & Villani, ; Yoshikawa et al ., ; Tsukihara et al ., ), the other based on work on bacterial CcO, in which the key role is played by the binuclear heme a 3 –Cu B centre (Brzezinski, ; Kaila, Verkhovsky & Wikström, ; VilhJalmsdottir, Johansson & Brzezinski, ). As discussed below, allosteric cooperativity of the redox chemistry at the low‐spin heme a and the heme a 3 –Cu B centre can, however, both contribute to the proton‐pumping activity of CcO.…”