ured ▁the ▁best ▁performance ▁on ▁accuracy ▁and ▁the ▁most ▁precise ▁results " ▁at ▁the ▁exp ense ▁of ▁time ▁and ▁computer ▁power . ▁ ▁B LA ST ▁is ▁more ▁time - efficient ▁than ▁FA ST A ▁by ▁searching ▁only ▁for ▁the ▁more ▁significant ▁patterns ▁in ▁the ▁sequences , ▁yet ▁with ▁compar ative ▁sens itivity . ▁This ▁could ▁be ▁further ▁realized ▁by ▁understanding ▁the ▁algorithm ▁of ▁B LA ST ▁introduced ▁below . ▁ ▁Ex amples ▁of ▁other ▁questions ▁that ▁research ers ▁use ▁B LA ST ▁to ▁answer ▁are : ▁ ▁Which ▁b acter ial ▁species ▁have ▁a ▁protein ▁that ▁is ▁related ▁in ▁line age ▁to ▁a ▁certain ▁protein ▁with ▁known ▁am ino - ac id ▁sequence ▁ ▁What ▁other ▁gen es ▁encode ▁prote ins ▁that ▁exhib it ▁structures ▁or ▁mot ifs ▁such ▁as ▁ones ▁that ▁have ▁just ▁been ▁determined ▁B LA ST ▁is ▁also ▁often ▁used ▁as ▁part ▁of ▁other ▁algorithms ▁that ▁require ▁approximate ▁sequence ▁matching . ▁ ▁B LA ST ▁is ▁available ▁on ▁the ▁web ▁on ▁the ▁NC BI ▁website . ▁Altern ative ▁implementations ▁include ▁AB - B LA ST ▁( former ly ▁known ▁as ▁W U - B LA ST ), ▁F SA - B LA ST ▁( last ▁updated ▁in ▁ 2 0 0 6 ), ▁and ▁Scala B LA ST . ▁ ▁The ▁original ▁paper ▁by ▁Alt sch ul , ▁et ▁al . ▁was ▁the ▁most ▁highly ▁c ited ▁paper ▁published ▁in ▁the ▁ 1 9 9 0 s . ▁ ▁Input ▁ ▁Input ▁sequences ▁( in ▁FA ST A ▁or