Forms the spike 'foot' and 'body' and acts as a membrane permeabilization protein that mediates release of viral particles from endosomal compartments into the cytoplasm. During entry, the part of VP5* that protrudes from the virus folds back on itself and reorganizes from a local dimer to a trimer. This reorganization may be linked to membrane penetration by exposing VP5* hydrophobic region. In integrin-dependent strains, VP5* targets the integrin heterodimer ITGA2/ITGB1 for cell attachment