In addition to binding DNA in a sequence-specific manner, the p53 tumour suppressor protein can interact with damaged DNA. In order to understand which structural features in DNA the C-teminal domain recognises we have studied the interaction of p53 protein with different types of DNA oligonucleotides imitating damaged DNA. Here we show that one unpaired nucleotide within double-stranded (ds)DNA is sufficient for recognition by the p53 C-terminus, either as a protruding end or as an internal gap in dsDNA. C-terminal interaction with DNA ends facilitated core domain binding to DNA, whereas interaction with gaps prevented core domain-DNA complexing, implying that p53 might adopt distinct conformations upon binding to different DNA lesions. These observations suggest that both single-strand and double-strand breaks can serve as a target for p53 C-terminal recognition in vivo and indicate that p53 might recruit different repair factors to the sites of damaged DNA depending on the type of lesion.