▁Pear son ▁in ▁ 1 9 8 5 . ▁ ▁Before ▁fast ▁algorithms ▁such ▁as ▁B LA ST ▁and ▁FA ST A ▁were ▁developed , ▁searching ▁databases ▁for ▁protein ▁or ▁nucle ic ▁sequences ▁was ▁very ▁time ▁cons uming ▁because ▁a ▁full ▁alignment ▁procedure ▁( e . g ., ▁the ▁Smith – W at erman ▁algorithm ) ▁was ▁used . ▁ ▁B LA ST ▁came ▁from ▁the ▁ 1 9 9 0 ▁st ochastic ▁model ▁of ▁Samuel ▁Kar lin ▁and ▁Stephen ▁Alt sch ul ▁They ▁" pro posed ▁a ▁method ▁for ▁estim ating ▁similar ities ▁between ▁the ▁known ▁DNA ▁sequence ▁of ▁one ▁organ ism ▁with ▁that ▁of ▁another ," ▁and ▁their ▁work ▁has ▁been ▁described ▁as ▁" the ▁statistical ▁foundation ▁for ▁B LA ST ." ▁Sub sequently , ▁Alt sch ul , ▁along ▁with ▁Warren ▁G ish , ▁Web b ▁Miller , ▁Eug ene ▁My ers , ▁and ▁David ▁J . ▁Lip man ▁at ▁the ▁National ▁Instit utes ▁of ▁Health ▁designed ▁the ▁B LA ST ▁algorithm , ▁which ▁was ▁published ▁in ▁the ▁Journal ▁of ▁M ole cular ▁Bi ology ▁in ▁ 1 9 9 0 ▁and ▁c ited ▁over ▁ 7 5 , 0 0 0 ▁times . ▁ ▁While ▁B LA ST ▁is ▁faster ▁than ▁any ▁Smith - W at erman ▁implementation ▁for ▁most ▁cases , ▁it ▁cannot ▁" gu arante e ▁the ▁optimal ▁align ments ▁of ▁the ▁query ▁and ▁database ▁sequences " ▁as ▁Smith - W at erman ▁algorithm ▁does . ▁The ▁optim ality ▁of ▁Smith - W at erman ▁" ens