Abstract: Method for selectively detecting nucleic acid molecules comprising structural aberrations that are capable of being convented into nicks comprising generating linear nucleic acids from a selected nucleic acid substrate population; denaturing and re-annealing the linear nucleic acids to form nucleic acid duplexes; masking the nucleic acid duplex termini and internal structural aberrations with a masking component; modifying the masked nucleic acids by introducing nicks therein using at least an enzyme possessing endonuclease activity: labelling the modified nucleic acids with labelled nucleotides via nucleic acid nick translation with at least an enzyme displaying a nucleic acid polymerase activity; and selecting and identifying the labelled nucleic acid.