Provided is an α-
amylase which has excellent amylolytic activity at a low temperature and further has excellent stability at a low pH and / or in the presence of a chelating agent. A variant of a parent α-
amylase, comprising an
amino acid residue substitution at a position corresponding to position H238 or E185 of an
amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2, and an
amino acid residue substitution shown in the following (A) or (B), the parent α-
amylase or α-amylase variant having at least 80%
sequence identity to the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2 (excluding α-amylase variants having
amino acid residue substitutions at three positions corresponding to positions H238, S239, and G178, three positions corresponding to positions H238, R209, and G178 and three positions corresponding to positions E185, N190, and G178 of the same amino acid sequence): (A) an
amino acid residue substitution at one or more positions selected from the group consisting of positions corresponding to positions T116, A181, A199, A275, V277, A286 and L323 of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2; or (B) an
amino acid residue substitution at a position corresponding to position G178 of the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 2 and one or more amino acid residue substitutions at one or more positions selected from the group consisting of positions corresponding to positions N126, T129, N190, R209 and S239 of the same amino acid sequence.