This paper presents membrane systems as an appropriate model for distributed computing, an efficient and natural environment to present the fundamental distributed algorithms. We support the idea that P systems can become a primary model for distributed computing, particularly for message-passing algorithms. We present the core theory, the fundamental algorithms and problems in distributed computing. We focus on an example describing an immune response system against virus attacks. The example

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... s implemented using a P system library created by the authors to simulate the main functions of a P system, and an MPI program that takes advantage of the highly parallel features provided by the model. The program uses distributed leader election and synchronization algorithms.