Accepted Article Microbial community dynamics reflect reactor stability during the anaerobic digestion of a very high strength and sulfate-rich vinasse Short title: Microbial community dynamics during the anaerobic digestion of vinasse Janet Jiménez ¶ , Ernesto L. Barrera *¶ , Jo De Vrieze, Nico Boon, Steven DeMeester, Henri Spanjers, Osvaldo Romero Romero, Jo Dewulf Address where the work was carried out: Center for Microbial Ecology and Technology (CMET), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. * Corresponding author: Name: Ernesto L. Barrera Phone numbers: +5354154248; +5341327724 Affiliation: Center for Energy and Industrial Process Studies (CEEPI), University of Sancti Spíritus. Ave de los Mártires 360, 60100 Sancti Spíritus, Cuba. E-mail: ernestol@uniss.edu.cu ¶ Authors with equal contribution Abstract BACKGROUND Microbial community dynamics during the anaerobic digestion of vinasse has been little studied. However, having knowledge about it is essential for early detection of reactor operational difficulties to apply preventive actions. This research studies the microbial This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/jctb.5449