The membrane of cells and organelles are highly deformable fluid interfaces, and can take on a multitude of shapes. One distinctive and particularly interesting property of biological membranes is their ability to from long and uniform nanotubes. These nanoconduits are surprisingly omnipresent in all domains of life, from archaea, bacteria, to plants and mammals. Some of these tubes have been known for a century, while others were only recently discovered. Their designations are different in different branches of biology, e.g. they are called stromule in plants and tunneling nanotubes in mammals. The mechanical transformation of flat membranes to tubes involves typically a combination of membrane anchoring and external forces, leading to a pulling action that results in very rapid membrane nanotube formation – micrometer long tubes can form in a matter of seconds. Their radius is set by a mechanical balance of tension and bending forces. There also exists a large class of membrane nanotubes that form due to curvature inducing molecules. It seems plausible that nanotube formation and functionality in plants and animals may have been inherited from their bacterial ancestors during endosymbiotic evolution. Here we attempt to connect observations of nanotubes in different branches of biology, and outline their similarities and differences with the aim of providing a perspective on their joint functions and evolutionary origin.

细胞膜和细胞器是高度可变形的流体界面，可以呈现多种形状。生物膜的一个独特且特别有趣的特性是它们能够形成长而均匀的纳米管。令人惊讶的是，这些纳米管道在生命的各个领域无所不在，从古细菌、细菌到植物和哺乳动物。其中一些管道已经为人所知一个世纪了，而另一些则是最近才被发现的。它们在生物学的不同分支中的名称有所不同，例如，它们在植物中被称为基质，而在哺乳动物中被称为隧道纳米管。平板膜向管的机械转变通常涉及膜锚定和外力的组合，导致拉动，从而导致非常快速的膜纳米管形成——微米长的管可以在几秒钟内形成。它们的半径由拉力和弯曲力的机械平衡决定。还存在一大类由曲率诱导分子形成的膜纳米管。植物和动物中纳米管的形成和功能可能是在内共生进化过程中从细菌祖先遗传下来的，这似乎是合理的。在这里，我们试图将不同生物学分支中对纳米管的观察联系起来，并概述它们的异同，旨在提供关于它们的联合功能和进化起源的视角。