Phosphorus from municipal sewage can be removed through abiotic precipitation,algal surface adsorption,or cellular assimilation in algal biotechnology.Any of these phosphorus removal ways may be affected by coexisted silver nanoparticles(AgNPs),while the information regarding how AgNPs affect the phosphorus removal is still unavailable.Here,we employed a non-targeted metabolomic approach to investigate the impact of AgNPs on the phosphorus assimilation by Chlorella vulgaris F1068(C.vulgaris F1068).Our findings showed that AgNPs mostly inhibited total phosphorus(TP)removal by algal assimilation comparing that by abiotic precipitation or surface adsorption,with TP removal efficiency by biological assimilation was reduced by 66.2%of the control at 0.20 mg/L of AgNPs.Further study based on non-targeted metabolomics showed that AgNPs significantly disturbed 17 metabolites related to phosphorus assimilation,in which the levels of glycerol-3-phosphate and guanine significantly downregulated by 16.5%and 42.7%at 0.20 mg/L of AgNPs,respectively.The disturbances in metabolic profiles and physiological indicators also suggested that AgNPs impeded phosphorus assimilation in the algae through inhibiting the synthesis of phospholipids and phytate and stimulating oxidative damage to cell membranes.These findings reveal a molecular-scale perspective of nanoparticles on algal biotechnology in municipal sewage treatment.