The invention is directed to bioconjugate vaccines comprising -glycosylated proteins. Further, the present invention is directed to a recombinant prokaryotic biosynthetic system comprising nucleic acids encoding an epimerase that synthesizes an oligo- or polysaccharide having-acetylgalactosamine at the reducing terminus. The invention is further directed to -glycosylated proteins containing an oligo- or polysaccharide having -acetylgalactosamine at the reducing terminus and an expression system and methods for producing such glycosylated proteins.