Construction of artificial peroxidase based on myoglobin scaffold for efficient degradation of meloxicam.

A novel artificial peroxidase has been developed for the efficient degradation of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug meloxicam by combining computer simulation and genetic engineering techniques. The results showed that the artificial peroxidase was able to completely degrade meloxicam within 90 s, with a degradation rate of 100 %, which was much higher than that of natural lacquer (46 %). The reaction time of the artificial enzyme was significantly shorter than that of natural peroxidase (10 min) and laccase (48 h). Further studies showed that the amino acid arrangement of the active site of the protein plays an important role in the catalytic performance. The degradation pathway of meloxicam was revealed using UPLC-MS analysis. In vitro toxicity assay showed complete disappearance of toxicity after meloxicam degradation. Therefore, the biocatalytic system proved to be an effective route for the green degradation of meloxicam with important application potential.