We show a lattice determination of the strong coupling constant α s (M Z ) from the vacuum polarization function (VPF) calculated on N f = 2 + 1 QCD gauge configurations generated by the JLQCD and TWQCD collaborations with dynamical overlap fermions. Fitting lattice data of VPF to a perturbative formula supplemented by the operator product expansion (OPE), we determine the parameter Λ . Evolving the running coupling constant to the Z boson mass scale, we obtain α s (M Z ) = 0.1181(8)( +4 −2 )( +5 −6 ) as our preliminary result, where the first error is statistical one, and the second and third errors are systematic errors due to discretization effect and other remaining uncertainties in this calculation.