Inge Pietersen's Contact Details

Inge Pietersen's Company Details

Patho Solutions (Pty) Ltd

Wellington, Western Cape, South Africa • 7 Employees
Research

Patho Solutions is a plant pathology business run by a family trio of microbiologist/virologists, which aims to address specific fieldwork and laboratory needs of the agricultural industry. Recognising that few plant pathology practices are capable of performing both lab research and applied science, Gert Pietersen founded PathSol in 2016, after completing his BSc Honours degree at the University of Pretoria. Two years later he recruited his sister, Inge (who was completing her MSc at the University of Cape Town at the time), to join the team. PathSol's main mission over the past few years has been the management of the devastating Grapevine Leafroll Disease (GLD), an undertaking which was started 20 years prior by Prof Gerhard Pietersen, Gert and Inge's dad, who has spent two decades researching and developing protocols and techniques for the successful management of this disease, and serves as an advisor and consultant to PathSol. In continuation and expansion of Prof Pietersen's work, PathSol has run a multi-year Leafroll Control Programme for the visual surveying of red varieties (to identify, map, and mark symptomatic plants for roguing) and molecular testing of white varieties (in which GLD is largely asymptomatic) using the Leafroll-3 ELISA kit developed by PathSol, which is sold locally and internationally and has become the standard for the South African industry. PathSol also offers testing services for other pathogens (listed on our website), including: Grapevine Leafroll-associated Viruses 1, 2, and 3 (GLRaV-1,2,3); Grapevine Fleck Virus (GFkV); Grapevine Fanleaf Virus (GFLV); Bacterial Blight (Xylophilus ampelinus); Apple Stem Pitting Virus (ASPV); Apple Chlorotic Leaf Spot Virus (ACLSV); Apple Mosaic Virus (ApMV); Apple Stem Grooving Virus (ASGV); Prune Dwarf Virus (PDV); Prunus Necrotic Ringspot Virus (PNRSV); Maize Chlorotic Mottle Virus (MCMV); Potato Virus Y (PVY); Potato Leafroll Virus (PLRV); Avocado Sun-blotch Viroid (ASBVd).